CONCERTO FOR PIANO IN A MINOR (Vacation)
Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2010 5:59 pm
I wrote this concerto for a friend who does not perform due to health issues - but why shouldn't she have fun at home? I've always liked programmatic music, and I based this on some wonderful vacation spots that travelers ought to visit - not one of which I've ever actually seen myself. I had to post this using sound files as opposed to Notion files because Notion does not include a choir in its library. (Or an organ, for that matter. Grumble, grumble, grumble...) The choir is midi from Cakewalk and mixed with what I got from Notion using Vegas
I - Italy
http://www.box.net/shared/17ue6faomj
Two basic themes here, in a traditional sonata-allegro form. Theme 1 is a tarantella, because as all Americans know, all Italians dance the tarantella every night. Theme 2 is something that might have been heard in Ancient Rome as the legions marched by in a triumph; we know how Roman music sounded because we have so many of their movies...
Yes, you're right - this movement isn't meant to be taken seriously. Note the uncomfortable pause when the pianist and the orchestra have managed to play themselves into a corner. On stage the pianist and conductor would stare at each other for a moment and then shrug and continue playing. (In my mind, this is hilarious.) And no, I'm not worried that any Italian listening will be offended, because if the people living south of the Alps didn't have a sense of humor, they could have never produced anyone like Giovanni Guareschi. I have never fallen in love with Italy, but the moment I can scrape together the price of an airline ticket, I mean to do so.
II - Undersea
http://www.box.net/shared/pb50y1tl80
In the Fiji Islands is an undersea resort that boasts three man Poseidon submarines that can be checked out to explore their 5,000 acre lagoon. To describe it I used a rondo, with A acting as the promenade in Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. B, C and D are based upon the fish swimming about, the coral reef itself, with architectures found only in nature, and an mysterious underwater cave suitable for skin diving. (And at $15,000/week/person, it's a guarantee I've never seen this one!)
Some of this one is very quiet, so you will likely want to turn your speakers up a bit.
III - Middle East
http://www.box.net/shared/onzox2x2hl
Ah, yes! The Middle East with its back alleys, its markets, and its music which is totally different from anything here in the west. Any further explanation would ruin it.
IV - Glacier
http://www.box.net/shared/6zpvmr26vc
The last movement was inspired by a visit our pianist made to Mendenhall Glacier, in Juneau Alaska. While everybody else was playing tourist and calling to the glacier for the echoes, she borrowed some Ice skates and went skating. It sounds crazy, I know, but A) completely sane people never accomplish anything in life, and B) unlike other glaciers that look like large fields of snow, Mendenhall Glacier looks more like something out of your freezer - remarkably clear ice.
The form is that of a Viennese Waltz in minor - earning it, in my mind, the nickname Lawrence Welk's Nightmare. Near the end it describes the skater singing to the glacier, and the glacier singing back, due to resonances in the ice. (I really wish I could have been there to hear that!) And finally a big finish for our skater and pianist.
I - Italy
http://www.box.net/shared/17ue6faomj
Two basic themes here, in a traditional sonata-allegro form. Theme 1 is a tarantella, because as all Americans know, all Italians dance the tarantella every night. Theme 2 is something that might have been heard in Ancient Rome as the legions marched by in a triumph; we know how Roman music sounded because we have so many of their movies...
Yes, you're right - this movement isn't meant to be taken seriously. Note the uncomfortable pause when the pianist and the orchestra have managed to play themselves into a corner. On stage the pianist and conductor would stare at each other for a moment and then shrug and continue playing. (In my mind, this is hilarious.) And no, I'm not worried that any Italian listening will be offended, because if the people living south of the Alps didn't have a sense of humor, they could have never produced anyone like Giovanni Guareschi. I have never fallen in love with Italy, but the moment I can scrape together the price of an airline ticket, I mean to do so.
II - Undersea
http://www.box.net/shared/pb50y1tl80
In the Fiji Islands is an undersea resort that boasts three man Poseidon submarines that can be checked out to explore their 5,000 acre lagoon. To describe it I used a rondo, with A acting as the promenade in Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. B, C and D are based upon the fish swimming about, the coral reef itself, with architectures found only in nature, and an mysterious underwater cave suitable for skin diving. (And at $15,000/week/person, it's a guarantee I've never seen this one!)
Some of this one is very quiet, so you will likely want to turn your speakers up a bit.
III - Middle East
http://www.box.net/shared/onzox2x2hl
Ah, yes! The Middle East with its back alleys, its markets, and its music which is totally different from anything here in the west. Any further explanation would ruin it.
IV - Glacier
http://www.box.net/shared/6zpvmr26vc
The last movement was inspired by a visit our pianist made to Mendenhall Glacier, in Juneau Alaska. While everybody else was playing tourist and calling to the glacier for the echoes, she borrowed some Ice skates and went skating. It sounds crazy, I know, but A) completely sane people never accomplish anything in life, and B) unlike other glaciers that look like large fields of snow, Mendenhall Glacier looks more like something out of your freezer - remarkably clear ice.
The form is that of a Viennese Waltz in minor - earning it, in my mind, the nickname Lawrence Welk's Nightmare. Near the end it describes the skater singing to the glacier, and the glacier singing back, due to resonances in the ice. (I really wish I could have been there to hear that!) And finally a big finish for our skater and pianist.