9 Bagatelles for solo piano
RossEdwards
Ive collected together some of mine and arranged them in what I feel is
a satisfactory sequence, although they can also be played individually or in
small groups. The first complete performance of Mantras & Night Flowers
was given in 2001 at the Newcastle Conservatorium of Music by the pianist Ian
Munro.
The fanciful titles have personal significance to the dedicatees.
1. Snails Bay Mantra
2. Frangipani
3. Emilys Song
4. Night Flowers
5. Pipyarnyum Mantra
6. Arc of Flowers
7. Glamorgan
8. Moments of Quiet Benediction
9. Jubilation Mantra
1. Snails Bay Mantra - for Bruce Beresford
This was a birthday present for the film director Bruce Beresford. Bruce has
a wide knowledge and love of music, which he uses with great flair and discretion
in his films. He lives near Snails Bay, an inlet of Sydney Harbour, and Ive
described the piece as a mantra because its based on the prayer-like repetition
of small cells.
2. Frangipani - in Memory of Sonya Hanke
In 1985 I was one of six Australian composers invited by the pianist Sonya Hanke,
President of The South Pacific Liszt Society, to provide a variation on a theme
from one of the Hungarian Rhapsodies, a group of some twenty piano
pieces which Liszt composed on Hungarian themes. The resulting set of variations,
an Australian Hexameron, was performed by Sonya in Sydney and Budapest. I disguised
the theme (which I found just a little bit corny) by adapting it to a Japanese
scale. Frangipani derives from Franz Japani, my working title, and gestures
characteristic of romantic piano music, though always present, are given an
exotic flavour suggestive of music for the koto, a Japanese zither with thirteen
silk strings. I suppose you could call this artistic licence.
3. Night Flowers - in Memory of Peter Platt
Quiet and mysterious, blossoming briefly in its cantabile middle section, this gentle piece opens with a sinuous reed melody over a drone. Ive attempted here to evoke the essential sound world of Peter Platt, Professor of Music at Sydney University from 1975 to1989, a passionate and enlightened musician and an inspiring teacher whose two main instruments were the oboe and the sitar.
4. Emilys Song - for my daughter, Emily.
Hoping to cajole my daughter into keeping up her piano practice I wrote her several short pieces.
This one tried to capture her gentle dreaminess. I once recorded it myself for the soundtrack of the film Phobia, a psychological thriller for which I composed the score. It seemed to match the character of the female protagonist, a sweet-natured Russian emigrant potter terrorized by her husband, a deranged, alcoholic, psychiatrist. Im always astonished by the way music specifically designed for one purpose can sometimes effectively serve a quite different one.
5. Pipyarnyum Mantra - for Hartley Newnham.
This was a birthday present for the singer Hartley Newnham, whos also a pianist. In 1981 I composed Maninya I, especially for Hartley, to a nonsense text containing the pseudoword pipyarnyum, which has yet to acquire meaning. Maninya, also a nonsense word from the same text, has come to mean Australian dance-chant, whose characteristically jagged rhythms and phrases dominate much of my music. Pipyarnyum Mantra explores a lighter, more playful side of the maninya style.
6. Arc of Flowers - for Hanna-Mari and Christopher Latham
When my Australian publisher, Chris (a violinist) - married his Finnish wife, Hanna-Mari (a singer) at the Sydney home of composer Peter Sculthorpe under a flower arrangement designed by my wife, Helen, I composed this little piece, in which I attempted to express the joy of the occasion, as a wedding present.
7. Glamorgan - for John Metcalf
In 2001 I was one of several Australian musicians invited to take part in the Vale of Glamorgan Festival in Wales. That year, the festival was dedicated to Australian music and its specific theme was South Wales meets New South Wales. I composed Glamorgan for the festival director, the Welsh composer John Metcalf, as a small tribute to his skill and vision.
8. Moments of Quiet Benediction - for Christine Myers and Matthew Hindson
Id intended to compose a parody of Australian composer Matthew Hindsons outrageously exuberant and ingenious techno-derived music, but for some reason what emerged was this interior monologue that could only have been composed by me. In fact, all I ended up parodying of Matthews was one of his titles (Moments of Plastic Jubilation). The music expresses my wish for Matthews and Christines happiness together.
9. Jubilation Mantra - for Jane Stanley and Michael Hooper
A precipitative wedding dance for two young musicians who found each other during their student years in the Music Department of Sydney University, where I was once Janes composition teacher.
R.E.