SCOTT WOLLSCHLEGER:
Ghost Song

“The collaboration between Larson and Wollschleger displays an uncanny level of attunement between performer and composer” - Textura

Available for Booking Now
karllarsonpiano@gmail.com

About the Project:

Composer Scott Wollschleger and pianist Karl Larson are pleased to announce their latest collaboration, Ghost Song. An hour-long work for solo piano, Ghost Song was premiered at Bang on a Can’s Loud Weekend Festival at MASS MoCA in July, 2026, and a new album featuring the work will be released on New Focus Recordings in May, 2027.

This new work is the latest in a long line of collaborations between Wollschleger and Larson. For over a decade, the music of Scott Wollschleger has been a focal point of Karl Larson’s repertoire. This close composer / performer collaboration has led to a number significant works, including the piano concerto Meditation on Dust, the expansive American Dream (recorded by Bearthoven and released on Cantaloupe Music in 2019), and Dark Days, a collection of works for solo piano (recorded by Karl Larson and released on New Focus Recordings in 2021), described as a ‘beautiful release’ by Gramophone.

Ghost Song is available for concert booking for the remainder of the 2026-2027 concert season and the 2027-2028 concert season. Please send all inquires to Karl Larson at karllarsonpiano@gmail.com

About the Work:
Program Notes by Scott Wollschleger

GHOST SONG is an hour-long composition for prepared piano written for my long-time collaborator and close friend, Karl Larson. The work builds on our shared praxis rooted in patience, intuition, and the slow illumination of fragile sonic worlds.The piano's lowest two octaves are prepared with Blu Tack putty. When struck, these strings activate overtones that are naturally tempered and slightly "out of tune" with the piano's regular notes. The sounding harmonics are literally “in between” the piano’s regular notes. These microtonally tuned harmonics interact with the piano's regular notes forming a spectral melodic line that is woven throughout the entire work creating a haunting, meditative quality.

I wrote GHOST SONG over the course of a year, and by the end the material lived almost entirely in my inner ear. When I sat down to compose, I was often working from memory rather than returning directly to earlier sketches, so what made it to the page was shaped by how I remembered the material, not just the material itself. The result is a kind of compounding of memory: the piece becomes a transcription of that remembering.