p53 was an

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

group commissioned by English percussionist Chris Cutler to play at the 25th Frankfurt Jazz Festival in Germany in September 1994. Their performance was recorded and released by Recommended Records in 1996 on a live album entitled '' p53''. The group reassembled in May 1997 to play at the Angelica International Festival of contemporary music in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

, Italy. In November 2006 an orchestral version with three soloists,

Jon Rose Jonathan Anthony Rose (born 19 February 1951) is an Australian violinist, cellist, composer, and multimedia artist. Rose's work is centered in the experimental music known as free improvisation, where he has created large environmental multimed ...

, Zeena Parkins and Chris Cutler performed with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Scotland, which was recorded and broadcast by the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

in March 2007. This version was performed again at the Opera House in Milan in 2014 with the Orchestra de Teatro Communale, with soloists Daan Vandewalle and Thomas Dimuzio. p53 was a

musical improvisation Musical improvisation (also known as musical extemporization) is the creative activity of immediate ("in the moment") musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous ...

al project that centred on the music of two classical grand pianists, accompanied by

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

, homemade guitar, turntable scratching, and real-time sampling/processing of the pianists.

History

In 1994 English percussionist Chris Cutler was asked by the organisers of the 25th Frankfurt Jazz Festival in Germany as to whether he had a project for the event. Cutler said "yes" and took the opportunity to try out a new musical idea involving "real-time montaging" that he had been contemplating. He used the festival's generous budget to form a quintet of musicians from around the world. Billed as "The Chris Cutler Project" before there was time to give it its name, p53 consisted of Cutler (percussion, electronics), German classical pianist Marie Goyette (grand piano), Polish classical pianist and composer

Zygmunt Krauze Zygmunt Krauze (born September 19, 1938) is a Polish composer of contemporary classical music, educator, and pianist. Biography Zygmunt Krauze is an important artist of his generation: a respected composer, valued pianist, educator, organiser of ...

(grand piano), German composer and performer

Lutz Glandien Lutz Glandien (born 1954) is a Berlin-based German avant garde composer and musician. He has composed a number of classical and electroacoustic pieces, released four solo albums, and collaborated with English percussionist Chris Cutler to r ...

(samples, real-time processing), and Japanese composer and multi-instrumentalist Otomo Yoshihide (turntables, homebuilt guitar). p53's performance at the Frankfurt Jazz Festival was filmed and later broadcast several times on German television. An album of the concert called '' p53'' was also released by Recommended Records in 1996. In May 1997 p53, with the same lineup, performed for the second time at the Angelica International Festival of contemporary music in

in Italy. An extract from this performance appeared on the ''Angelica 1997'' compilation CD. The orchestral version was first performed in November 2006, in Glasgow, with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, conducted by

Ilan Volkov Ilan Volkov ( he, אילן וולקוב; born September 8, 1976, Tel Aviv) is an Israeli orchestral conductor. Biography Volkov's father, Alexander Volkov, was a concert pianist. He studied with the conductor Mendi Rodan at the Rubin Academy in ...

. Volkov also conducted it in Bologna in 2014, at the Angelica Festival with the Orchestra del Teatro Communale, where the soloists were Daan Vandewalle and Thomas Dimuzio. A chamber version of the piece was performed at the Techtonics festival in Tel Aviv in November 2014, with soloists

Maya Dunietz Maya Dunietz ( he, מאיה דוניץ; April 16, 1981 in Tel Aviv), is an international musician and artist, combining a solo career with collaborations with renowned musicians: Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou, Roscoe Mitchell, John Tilbury, Hab ...

, Tim Hodgkinson and Chris Cutler, under the direction of Ilan Volkov.

Music

The instrumentation of the original p53 project consisted of two grand pianos, amplified turntables, a homemade electric guitar, percussion, electronics and real time processing. One of the pianists was instructed to play "a few small sections from the classical repertoire", in any way and at any tempo, while the other musicians were free to improvise around them, under certain dramaturgical rules. Glandien periodically played back amplified and distorted live samples of the pianists.

Name

The group's name was taken from the p53 tumour suppressor gene that was discovered in 1979 by

David P. Lane Sir David Philip Lane (born 1 July 1952) is a British immunologist, molecular biologist and cancer researcher. He is currently working in the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology at the Karolinska Institute and iChairman of Chug ...

and others. Because of its role in preventing

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

, the gene has been described as "the guardian of the

genome In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding ge ...

Members

;1994 and 1997 lineup * Chris Cutler – drums, objects, low grade electronics *Marie Goyette – grand piano *

– grand piano * Otomo Yoshihide – turntables, homebuilt guitar *

– computer, samples, real-time processing ;2006 lineup * Chris Cutler – percussion *

– violin * Zeena Parkins – harp

Discography

Albums

*'' p53'' (1996, CD, Recommended Records,

U.K. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

)

Appears on

*Various artists: ''Angelica 1997'' (1998, CD, Dischi di Angelica,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

) – includes one p53 track

Footnotes

References

External links

*{{discogs release , id=1182399 , name=''p53'' . Experimental musical groups Free improvisation ensembles Musical groups established in 1994 1994 establishments in Germany