D to J – The Written Note

Piano Pieces D to J

Ecky Beck’s Jig for piano

Called after a local chap who was standing next to me in the Boat Pub (may it rest in peace). While I wrote the piece. I also fully extended the jig into a Wind Quartet piece.

I wrote this after quizzing a chemist friend about how electrons worked in metal and this is my response to his answer. What I tried to do was show how E’s (literally, and figuratively for electrons). Would start in one piece and travel through to another half of the piece, and how that could sound in a jig.

Flamenco Chaconne 1 Allagrias

Dedicated to Ian Anderson, this piece is a result of discussions about how Flamenco guitar music works, this is not mean’t to be a perfect summation but rather a picking and mixing of my music and flamenco in the chosen medium of Baroque ish chaconne.

Flamenco Chaconne 2 Rhumba in D minor for Chris

Second in the series, this piece is for my friend Chris, or Sky Tusk, who chose the key and is shown in the character of the piece.

Flamenco Chaconne 3

A more modern look at the mixing of ideas, more free and fantasy like. The computer does not give it justice.

Friday fives for piano

Just a muse on 5 4 timing. On a Friday as the name suggests.

Fugue No 1

First try at a full fugue, it has been altered and corrected a few times. It should be ok now.

Fugue No 2

This was written when working many years ago in Reeds Boys School in Surrey. It was written without bar lines, and then I added them back in to show the stress of each phrase. A bit tricky to play but rewarding.

Fugue No 5

This is a fugue in an a tonal/highly chromatic form.

Fugue No 6 for 2010

This is a slightly modal fugue four square theme.

Fugue No 8 Piano version

This fugue was an attempt to write a fugue that all the main voices come in with the theme in the same key. I think it works. This is tricky to play. There is also a string quartet version.

Fugue No 9 for Piano

This has a long subject. And is an attempt to be more Baroque/ correct with my fugue development.

Gavotte

This is a fast little dance, written a long time ago.

Gavotte for a Horse

This little Gavotte is a little a tonal, maybe Shostakovich like.

Happy Piece 2 for Piano

Originally written for Percussion and violin, here is the piano version. To write a piece that is Happy without being boring or childish.

Happy Piece 3 for Piano

In this piece and the last, I use a rhythm that I spent some time thinking about. I call it the happy rhythm. Try clapping the bass line, it can never be sad. It is also the harder of the two.

Happy Piece 4 for Piano

A totally different piece to the other two, by the by Happy Piece 1 is a marimba piece in Tuned percussion section. This one is seriously hard to play. It was written with four parts in mind and has been adapted to a string quartet with changes.