Download: Pianist Sarah Cahill Performs Terry Riley and Samuel Adams

One of America’s most revered experimentalists, Terry Riley turned 80 years old in 2015. Somehow, he remains eternally youthful and effortlessly hip, continuing to compose and perform at an invigorated pace. For decades now Riley has furthered the musical traditions he helped start in the '60s while serving as an inspiration to newer and younger generations of composers and performers. This episode of LPR Live tips a hat to this musical maverick with live performances by the California-based pianist Sarah Cahill. In addition to the music of Riley included on this homage to the composer at Le Poisson Rouge, Cahill intersperses works by a younger generation of kindred spirits. One of our favorites is Samuel Adams, the current composer-in-residence with the Chicago Symphony, who wrote Shade Studies, a piece for piano and resonators, specifically for these celebratory performances. Riley’s Keyboard Study 1 and Adams’ complementary work is preluded by Cahill and Adams describing their close relationship with the composer, the mesmerizing spell cast by Riley’s piano writing, and the uniquely resonant sounds you hear listening to music from underneath a piano. Listen to the complete show on www.q2music.org. Samuel Adams’s Shade Studies was commissioned by Russ Irwin for pianist Sarah Cahill. The first performance was given by Sarah Cahill in the recital hall at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music on January 16, 2015. Thanks to Associated Music Publishers, Inc. and BMI for the use of Terry Riley’s Keyboard Studies.