Product Description
This volume contains five solo piano pieces expertly crafted and meticulously edited for accuracy. Advanced pianists will welcome the technical challenges and heights of musicality these works require. Music terminology for Le Cygne noir and L'océan are in French, with regard to the dedications of these pieces. All other works use conventional music terminology in Italian. 178 pages. ISMN 979-0-800277-00-9.
David Fraser wrote the first 41 measures of Rhapsody No. 1 in 1997 and subsequently completed this piece and all other works in this volume over the course of six months in 2019. When playing the original 41 measures of Rhapsody No. 1 in 2019, Fraser noted that the music had some resemblance to works by Sergei Rachmaninoff. This encouraged Fraser to compose the remainder of this piece in a manner reminiscent of Rachmaninoff and, consequently, author a suite of solo piano pieces as homages to some of his favorite composers. In Rachmaninoffs famous Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43, variation 18, the composer uses an upside-down inversion of a small melody by Paganini. Similarly, Fraser uses a backwards inversion of a small melody from Rachmaninoffs variation for the Rhapsodys Adagio section, which starts on Page 3.
Le Cynge noir {The Black Swan} is the second piece Fraser authored, dedicated to his beloved piano composer, Maurice Ravel. In this piece, Fraser wrote in his own style while evoking images such as a swan gliding on a lake, peering at its reflection in the water, and taking flight into the clouds with its wings rustling in the wind. Fraser gleaned inspiration for this piece from Ravels song for voice and piano Histoires naturelles - Le cygne, set to a poem by Jules Renard. In addition, Fraser alternates between the keys of C-sharp major and A major as a depiction of the magical swans internal conflict in choosing to exist as a black or white swan.
Frasers third composition is Sonata No.1 Gothic, dedicated to Sergei Prokofiev, not as a representation of this genre of music, but in form. Specifically, Fraser uses a similar structure in Movement 1, starting at Measure 72 marked più mosso e con abbandono, to the notoriously difficult colossale section of Prokofievs Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 16, Movement 1. The sonatas Movement 3 also follows a structure parallel to Movement 4 of Prokofievs aforementioned piano concerto, employing fiendishly challenging syncopated jumps in both hands. Written in ternary form, Movements 1 and 3 of Frasers sonata are in C minor; Movement 2 is in E-flat minor, instead of the expected relative or dominant key. This work has explosive sentiments of rage that elicit a sense of immensity and darkness, touching on the macabre yet maintaining an alluring nature.
The fourth piece of this suite, L'océan {The Ocean} dedicated to Claude Debussy, uses whole-tone scales throughout as lyrical motifs. The composition unfolds with the allusion of the sun glimmering on ocean waves, followed by the playfulness of eddies and gusts of wind. These themes merge into one another as the wind increases in ferocity, culminating in the start of a storm with sudden strikes of lightning preceded by the reverberation of thunder. The pitter-patter of rain on the water steadily evolves into a full tempest that engulfs the middle section of the piece. As the storm subsides and the ocean calms, night has fallen and the twinkling of stars in the firmament are reflecting upon the water. The piece ends with the return of the opening theme as the sun swiftly rises above the ocean on the horizon.
Prelude No. 1 L'adieu {The Farewell} offers rich and lush harmonies with an enticing melody. This piece was written in memoriam to Fraser's mother.
This product was created by a member of ArrangeMe, Hal Leonard's global self-publishing community of independent composers, arrangers, and songwriters. ArrangeMe allows for the publication of unique arrangements of both popular titles and original compositions from a wide variety of voices and backgrounds.