Review from the New Music Box (February 2010)
Review from the All Music Guide (March 2010)
Review from Fanfare (July 2010)
UnCaged Toy Piano is a unique avant-garde/classical album featuring hand-picked new works written specifically for the toy piano. All of these pieces have inhabited a big part of my musical life for the last seven years. The toy piano became a serious concert instrument starting from John Cage’s seminal work,”Suite for Toy Piano” written in 1948. East Broadway and Mirabella were written for the great new music pianist, Margaret Leng Tan. I discovered Exposiciones and Kalimba at the Extensible Toy Piano Project in 2005 and have been touring with these pieces since then.
track listing: 1. Mirabella a tarantella for toy piano by Stephen Montague
2. Exposiciones for toy piano and CD by Andrian Pertout
3. Kalimba for toy piano and CD by Karlheinz Essl
4-8. Suite for Toy Piano by John Cage
9. East Broadway for toy piano and toy boombox by Julia Wolfe
10. Memoirist part 1 “The Tale” for toy piano, frying pan, music box by Phyllis Chen
11. Memoirist part 3 “The Dream” for toy piano and bowls
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This debut album was recorded at the Bunker Studio in Brooklyn on three different toy pianos. Many people have asked me what happened to Part 2 of “The Memoirist.” This section is mostly a film soundtrack. To view/listen to this track, please visit the “Look” page and click on “Memoirist Part II.” I cannot express how amazing it has been for me to discover the full range and expression of the toy piano.
Thanks to everyone who has been buying my CD! After selling my CD on amazon,itunes and CDbaby, I’ve decided to get rid of the middle man and sell them independently from my own home. If you would like to purchase a copy, please email me at phyllis@iceorg.org and I will send you a copy! Please subject the email as CD order. My CD is being sold for $12 (free shipping).
Here is a preview/description of the CD written by Bruce Lee Gallanter from the Downtown Music Gallery.