Charlemagne Palestine's From Etudes to Cataclysms, issued on the Sub Rosa label, is composed and performed on a highly unusual instrument: the Doppio Borgato. It is a modern descendant of the nineteenth century Pédalier or Pedalflügel, a piano with pedal board fancied by organists as an instrument on which to practice. Composers such as
Robert Schumann and
Charles-Valentin Alkan were so fond of this instrument that they wrote special compositions for it. The Doppio Borgato has 37 pedals and is far more generous in design and capabilities than the Pédalier of old, and on From Etudes to Cataclysms,
Charlemagne Palestine takes advantage of such capabilities.