
Stephen Prina
In Excerpts from the 9 Symphonies of L. van Beethoven, Für zwei Pianoforte zu vier Händen, Transcription pour Piano à 2 mains, and Für Klavier zu 4 Händen, 1983–85, Stephen Prina continues an investigation into the representation of cultural artifacts. Underlying this investigation are the questions of what constitutes “completeness,” and what is the point at which completeness is exhausted. To explore these questions, Prina in effect produces a palimpsest of the original, often by the manipulation of secondary sources.
The piece is an arrangement of Beethoven's nine symphonies using versions by