David Albee, piano
Notes by Charles Amirkhanian
On September 20, 1933, at the Second Yaddo Festival of Contemporary Music in Saratoga Springs, New York, composer George Antheil gave the world premiere of his La Femme 100 Têtes preludes. He had composed the music in the southern French coastal town of Cagnes-sur-Mer near Nice on the Riviera, in the Winter of 1932–33. He had lived there with his Hungarian wife, Böske, since June of 1932 on a Guggenheim Fellowship which thankfully had rescued him from the brink of financial collapse and had returned the couple to their commonly-adopted country after a brief interlude in the U.S.
This unusual set of visionary etudes, inspired by La Femme 100 Têtes, a book of collaged etchings assembled by the surrealist painter Max Ernst from their original sources in volumes of nineteenth-century picture storybooks, and each given subtitles with hauntingly suggestive overtones, typifies Antheil’s music during what the composer himself referred to as his earlier “mechanistic” period (1922–25).
In a letter written September 7, 1933, from the composer’s hometown in New Jersey to Mr. Henry Allen Moe, the longtime custodian of the Guggenheim program, Antheil refers to these preludes as “short, terse and steely”—representing “the subconscious and strange feelings of my childhood in Trenton.” (Shades of Jack Duluoz, the young protagonist in Dr. Sax, Jack Kerouac’s novel of intense autobiographical reminiscence, centered on his adolescence in industrial Lowell, Massachusetts.)...
This title, originally issued on the CRI label, is now available as a burn-on-demand CD (CD-R) or download in MP3/320, FLAC or WAV formats. CD-Rs come in a protective sleeve; no print booklet or jewel case included. Full liner notes are accessible via the link above.
George Antheil: La Femme 100 Têtes
| MP3/320 | $7.99 | |
| WAV | $7.99 | |
| CD-R | $7.99 |
A *.pdf of the notes may be accessed here free of charge.
Track Listing
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La Femme 100 Têtes: I. Thoughtfully, Not Too Slow
George Antheil
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George Antheil: II. Thoughtfully, Not Too Slow
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: III. Faintly Energetic
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: IV. Floating
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: V. Furioso
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: VI. Floating
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: VII. Sad
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: VIII. Electrical, Spiccato
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: IX. Sad
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: : Slightly Brutal tempo
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XI. Bawdy; Ferocious tempo
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XII. Brilliant; Clean, Fast
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XIII. Nostalgic, Twisted, Slowly
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XIV. Brilliant, Fast, Tricky
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XV. Slowly
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XVI. Lights Flashing
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XVII. Brilliant
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XVIII. Banged, an Even Forte Throughout
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XIX. Fast, an Even Piano Throughout
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XX. Faster
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XXI. Slower
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XXII. Faster, an Even Fortissimo Throughout
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XXIII. Well Articulated
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XXIV. Slowly
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XXV. Minuet ?
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XXVI. Onward Christian Soldiers
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XXVII. Dreaming Thoughtfully
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XXVIII. Knocked and Brilliant
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XXIX. Nostalgic, Slowly
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XXX. Brilliant
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XXXI. Not Too Slow: Fairly Good Tempo
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XXXII. Sad
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XXXIII. Mystic Tempo
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XXXIV. Brilliant
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XXXV. Furioso
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XXXVI. Glittering, Fast
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XXXVII. Subtle, Tender
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XXVIII. Broad
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XXXIX: Brilliant and Naked
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XL: Nostalgic
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XLI: Brilliant
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XLIII: Brilliant, Not Too Fast
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XLIV: A Machine
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: XLV: Cruel, Quick
George Antheil
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La Femme 100 Têtes: Percussion Dance
George Antheil
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