icarus Quartet pianist and Wake Forest University assistant professor of music Larry Weng discusses the collaborative process between performers and composers, highlighting the unique aspects of working with living composers like Jennifer Higdon. The Pulitzer Prize-winner then discusses her composition for icarus titled "Turbo Shift," inspired by Béla Bartók's Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion. In her homage to the great Hungarian master, Higdon incorporates prepared piano techniques including hand crafted mutes and wedges for the piano strings that alter the instrument's timbre and mimic the sounds of a busy mechanical workshop, expanding her compositional palette.
