Study for Two Pianos and Tape (1990) is a collaboration with Garnet Willis. We were electronic music students of Philip Werren and composition/music history students of James Tenney at York University. The piece was recorded live at a student recital, where both Werren and Tenney were in attendance. This is a single mic recording that has survived several stages of media storage.
I created the tape by layering synth lines, drones and homemade samples, varying the tape machine speed during mixing to create glissando effects. I then added a series of very quick cuts with a razor blade and blank leader tape.
Garnet is playing a grand piano, and me a partially prepared upright, which he later detuned while I played to create further glissando effects. The piano parts are semi-improvised around a D-flat extended/microtonal tonic centre. A classmate volunteered to mix the tape around the room speakers during the performance. There were random pans and fade ins and outs, to which we responded with active gestures, minimalism and a hint of romanticism.
Garnet is an award-winning interdisciplinary artist, audio engineer, composer and instrument builder. I highly recommend exploring his groundbreaking work. He’s also one of the first friends I made in Toronto.
Note: this recording is dynamic, beginning quietly and becoming loud in several segments.
Recorded in concert, April 5, 1990, DACARY, York University
Two pianos, reel to reel tape (Yahama DX-27, Roland S-50, DEP-5 effects)
DAT recording transferred to cassette in 1990, transferred to CD-R in 2003
Artwork: sketch for the concert program, artist unknown
Music and composer’s notes copyright Bruce A. Russell 2025
EL MAHBOOB 
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