Piano (Piano)
SKU:
HL.14021076
Composed
by John McCabe. Music
Sales America. Studies &
Exercises. Book
[Softcover]. 20 pages.
Music Sales #NOV090981.
Published by Music Sales
(HL.14021076).
8.25x11.75x0.102
inches.
English.
Epithalami
um was commissioned by
John Sell as a birthday
present for his wife
Jane, and is dedicated to
her and to Malcolm Binns.
It was written during
summer 2006 and derived
from the two great chords
that swing to and fro
during the Coronation
Scene in Mussorgsky's
opera Boris Godunov.
These provide a series of
seven notes (heard in the
quick flourishes after
the opening chords) which
provide the basis for the
tunes and the harmonies
through most of the work.
The idea of bell sounds
is carried through not
only the chords during
the piece but also some
of the techniques (e.g.
the gradually changing
repeated patterns, rather
like bell-ringing
changes, encountered
towards the end,or the
quiet and distant, uneven
tintinnabulation heard at
the end of the central
slow section). An
epithalamium (or
epithalamion) is a song
or poem in honour of a
bride and bridegroom -
though technically a
wedding piece, it seemed
an appropriate title for
a work honouring an
anniversary, especially
one where bell-sounds
provided the original
inspiration.
