• O C T. XXIX. • Henry Cowell — “The Banshee”

From the 1963 album The Piano Music Of Henry Cowell.

A spooky piece written in 1925 that uses the piano in a very different way—here, it's opened up and the strings are manipulated directly, giving it a truly ghostly sound. Cowell was a truly ahead of his time composer, one of the most radical of his era, and this piece was a reflection of his love for Irish mythology. Sadly, he was sentenced to 15 years in San Quentin State Prison (serving four) for the "crime" of being bisexual in 1936. After his pardon, he was a profoundly changed and perpetually scared man; still going on to compose, but now in a more conservative style, never approaching his prior groundbreaking work.