SKU: AP.47902
ISBN 9781470642068. UPC: 038081549118. English.
Who or what is that shadowy figure playing the piano in the school music room after dark? Several students and Deputy Barney set out to solve this musical mystery with surprising results. Featuring six songs with clever texts set to musical classics by Chopin, Dvorák, Sousa, and others. This Alfred favorite is newly updated with a fresh engraving and a stellar recording! Recommended for grades three and up. Approximately 30 minutes.
Who or what is that shadowy figure playing the piano in the school music room after dark? Several students and Deputy Barney set out to solve this musical mystery with surprising results. Featuring six songs with clever texts set to musical classics by Chopin, Dvorák, Sousa, and others. This Alfred favorite is newly updated with a fresh engraving and a stellar recording! Recommended for grades three and up. Approximately 30 minutes.
SKU: AP.47903
ISBN 9781470642075. UPC: 038081549132. English.
SKU: ST.Y274
ISBN 9790220223358.
1st perf: Keisuke Okazaki, Tokyo Opera City Recital Hall, Tokyo, Japan, 22 April 2008 1st UK perf: Darragh Morgan, Schott Recital Room, Bauer & Hieber, London, 5 February 2009 Though the jagged figures and phrases of Lucky's Dream by Morgan Hayes are unmistakably those of a contemporary musical expressionist, the shadow of Bach also falls on this work, inspired by the virtuosity of the young Japanese soloist Keisuke Okazaki and his playing of the E major Partita. In fact, though 'standard' contemporary techniques are widely used in the piece - left-hand pizzicato, harmonics and microtones, all deployed in edgy, unpredictable rhythms - there is also a classical shape to the structure. In this two-part form, lasting around four minutes, the first section is reflective, dwelling on single notes, phantoms as it were of pitches that are subtly deflected through slow glissandi. Then a spectral dance ensues, delivered largely on plucked strings, ethereal, disembodied, strange. The 'Lucky' in question is a character from Samuel Beckett's play Waiting for Godot, and Lucky's Dream is a complementary work to the earlier, impassioned Lucky's Speech (2006). The two items can stand alone or may be performed consecutively. Both are to be found on the recent all-Hayes CD released on the NMC label (NMC D163), which also features the composer's 17-minute Violin Concerto as further evidence for his original approach to writing for the instrument.
