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Game of the Century, The (Download)
Creative, original, and just plain cool, this work for two percussionists by Connor Shafran recreates the famous chess match played in 1956 between Donald Byrne (White), and 13-year-old Bobby Fischer (Black) and dubbed The Game of the Century. In its musical rendering, The Game of the Century is performed by two players seated across from each other, a chess board between them, the ticking clock driving the piece as White and Black move exactly as Byrne and Fischer did in 1956, the rhythms coinciding with the flow and strategy. Theatrical yet graded only Medium in level, the players are aided by the extensive performance notes and visual diagrams of how the board should look at key points.
Video Performance by Mark Braafhart & Laurent Warnier
In the world of chess, Bobby Fischer was a phenom, crushing opponents from the beginning of his “gaming career” at age of 13. Heralded as possibly the most outstanding chess player ever, Fischer is best known for defeating 26-year-old Donald Byrne in what was dubbed “The Game of the Century” in 1956. This creative three-minute percussion duo musically replicates that famous game where the sequence of moves are entirely accurate to the original game, and the rhythms coincide with the flow and strategy used by the original players.
In addition to becoming acquainted with reading chess moves, performers will have to be prepared to perform the music by reaching across the game board, moving and capturing pieces, and utilizing a chess clock as a rhythmic instrument. While “theatrical” percussion pieces are not new to our field, this work is a fresh take on the genre and relies on the game-board moves and pauses between them to establish the narrative trajectory. To further include the audience in the “story,” it would be helpful to set up an overhead camera on the board to project the game on a large screen.
For those not familiar with the game of chess, [Shafran] includes extensive notes on how to read game movements and clearly dictates each player’s rhythmic role, which consists primarily of eighth-note and sixteenth-note patterns. Who knows, a performance of this imaginative take on a landmark event might even spark the beginning of a new generation of chess enthusiasts.
—Joshua D. Smith
Percussive Notes
Vol. 53, No. 1, March 2015
Creative, original, and just plain cool, this work for two percussionists by Connor Shafran recreates the famous chess match played in 1956 between Donald Byrne (White), and 13-year-old Bobby Fischer (Black) and dubbed The Game of the Century. In its musical rendering, The Game of the Century is performed by two players seated across from each other, a chess board between them, the ticking clock driving the piece as White and Black move exactly as Byrne and Fischer did in 1956, the rhythms coinciding with the flow and strategy. Theatrical yet graded only Medium in level, the players are aided by the extensive performance notes and visual diagrams of how the board should look at key points.
Video Performance by Mark Braafhart & Laurent Warnier
In the world of chess, Bobby Fischer was a phenom, crushing opponents from the beginning of his “gaming career” at age of 13. Heralded as possibly the most outstanding chess player ever, Fischer is best known for defeating 26-year-old Donald Byrne in what was dubbed “The Game of the Century” in 1956. This creative three-minute percussion duo musically replicates that famous game where the sequence of moves are entirely accurate to the original game, and the rhythms coincide with the flow and strategy used by the original players.
In addition to becoming acquainted with reading chess moves, performers will have to be prepared to perform the music by reaching across the game board, moving and capturing pieces, and utilizing a chess clock as a rhythmic instrument. While “theatrical” percussion pieces are not new to our field, this work is a fresh take on the genre and relies on the game-board moves and pauses between them to establish the narrative trajectory. To further include the audience in the “story,” it would be helpful to set up an overhead camera on the board to project the game on a large screen.
For those not familiar with the game of chess, [Shafran] includes extensive notes on how to read game movements and clearly dictates each player’s rhythmic role, which consists primarily of eighth-note and sixteenth-note patterns. Who knows, a performance of this imaginative take on a landmark event might even spark the beginning of a new generation of chess enthusiasts.
—Joshua D. Smith
Percussive Notes
Vol. 53, No. 1, March 2015
