Kosmos, Psalm 151, Sonata per sei : Grau Schumacher Piano Duo, Schlagquartett Koln, etc

Bla Bartk plays a major role in many works by Peter Etvs. The love of Bartk's music first appears in the piano piece Kosmos. The title refers to Bartk's famous piano cycle Mikrokosmos. However, the work also bears the title Kosmos because Yuri Gagarin's famous space flight was about to take place when it was written in March 1961. Etvs was then 17 years old, and Gagarin excited the young composer's imagination. On the occasion of the 125th anniversary of Bartk's birth in 2006, Etvs wrote a piano concerto in which he further developed Bartk's ideas and thought processes. The concerto is entitled CAP-KO, an acronym for Concerto for Acoustic Piano, Keyboard, and Orchestra. The piano resources are extended by use of a computer, which adds further sounds to those being played - a revolutionary technology that Etvs wants to be understood as a symbol of Bartk's pioneering spirit. The concerto centres on the famous Bartk cascades of octaves and sixths. Etvs has twice re-arranged CAP-KO for other instrumentations, e.g. as Sonata per sei for two pianos, three percussionists, and sampler keyboard. Among the musicians Etvs has always admired is Frank Zappa. When Zappa died in 1993 at the young age of 42, Etvs responded with grief and anger. He said, In connection with Zappa's premature and meaningless death, one really cannot praise God, but must protest. He composed a piece that gives expression to this protest. Since the 150 psalms in the Bible do not deal with protest, the piece became Psalm 151: This is the one that is not in the Bible.