Helvacioglu, Erdem – “Eleven Short Stories” – [Innova/American Composers]

Inspired by the cinema, Turkish composer Erdem Helvacioglu crafted Eleven Short Stories using different prepared piano set-ups for each piece. Along with some more traditional piano sounds, the strings of a Yamaha C7 PE Grand Piano are plucked, scraped and played with mallets. Helvacioglu manipulated the sound of the piano by attaching a variety of objects (including utensils, metal places, ear plugs, erasers, paperclips, etc.) to the strings. It makes for a dramatic listen and it’s easy to imagine these pieces providing musical accompaniment to visuals by the likes of the directors that Helvacioglu cites as influences (ranging from David Lynch and Atom Egoyan to Jane Campion).