The DVD Installation of The Well-Tuned Piano in The Magenta Lights (87 V 10 6:43:00 PM – 87 V 11 01:07:45 AM NYC) by La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela is reopened at Kunst im Regenbogenstadl, Polling, Bavaria, Germany, with the addition of the European premiere of an electronically generated continuous periodic composite sound waveform environment of The Magic Opening Chord from The Well-Tuned Piano, from May 4, 2002 through October 27, 2002. The installation is set in a site-specific light environment created by Zazeela, which includes two sculptures from Zazeela’s Still Light series, and her neon sculpture, Dream House Variation III.
The Well-Tuned Piano has been acclaimed as "one of the great monuments of modern culture" (Los Angeles Herald Examiner, 1987) and "the most important piano music composed by an American since the Concord Sonata" (Chicago Reader, 1987) and “the king of all just-intonation piano recordings” (Pulse!, 2001). Art Forum (1981) described The Magenta Lights as “an environmental piece in every sense of the word. What Zazeela has represented is the subtle relationship between precision and spirituality. [She] transforms material into pure and intense color sensations, and makes a perceptual encounter a spiritual experience."
In this special installation at Kunst im Regenbogenstadl, the frequencies of The Opening Chord are generated as six sine waves in the large gallery, and the frequencies of The Magic Chord as eight sine waves in the inner sculpture gallery. As one walks from the large gallery toward the sculpture gallery, one gradually hears the two chords mixing together to become the fourteen frequencies of The Magic Opening Chord. When deep within the sculpture gallery, it is possible to hear The Magic Chord alone, and with a slight shift of position, frequencies from The Opening Chord may come floating in from the large gallery. Gradually, the visitor can create his/her own melodies and chordal progressions by moving among the standing wave forms that are created in the space.