Henry Cowell, “The Bansheeâ€, performed by (1) The Continuum Ensemble, and (2) Chris Brown.
This piece is for solo piano. It is mostly played ‘within’ the piano, by strumming the strings directly, rather than using the keyboard as is usually done. I think I’ve read that Cowell wrote this piece to be played completely within the piano on the strings directly, but there are little 3- and 4-note phrases that sound to me like they’re played using the keys.
The sound of the piano in this piece is ghostly and can sound eerily human at times. (The theremin can sound this way too; you could probably write a neat piece like this for both piano (strumming the strings) and theremin. Actually, I happen to own both a piano and a theremin, so maybe I should try this.)
I would like to see how the piece is notated. I listened to two different versions of this. The “notes” played don’t seem to be identical (even the few that seem to be played on the keyboard), so I imagine the notation is not exact and many details are left to the performer. (Though I suppose the piece could be notated exactly, if you were to do it as harp music is notated. Although, on the other hand, that might not work, since (I think) the way strings are arranged—the way they cross over each other and so on—might differ from piano to piano (it definitely differs between grand pianos and upright pianos)).
I can’t make up my mind which of these two versions is the spookiest (and, therefore, the best). Version 1 is louder and has one part that sounds like a goblin gibbering and parts that sound like a child crying. Version 2 is quieter (although it has quite a few loud bits, too) and I think this makes it more eerie than Version 1 by just a tad (maybe). Also, Version 2 has some weird sounds that sound like leather creaking. I can’t imagine what it is, whether it’s just an accidental artifact of the recording or was intentional. Version 2 also has a part that sounds like a bunch of demons laughing.