So Fred & Deborah suggested: “Perhaps combine Gershwin, Chopin and Gregorian Chant.”
I got 2 out of the 3. (Special brownie points if you can name the 2 tunes I’m parodying!) Enjoy!
I confess that I couldn’t play this quite as fast as I wanted it, esp. the middle section. I’d need a couple days to practice it, but that’s not how the project works! 😉
Click play to listen:
Thanks for listening!
Filed under: 30 Days, classical, composition, contemporary classical, contemporary classical music, contemporary music, new music |
Miss Music Nerd 
The Gershwinesque bits remind me a little of the middle movement of his Piano Concerto. I don’t know my Chopin well enough to guess that one!
Nice work, as usual!
I heard something that sounds like a Chopin prelude blended artfully with It Aint Necessarily So, but not trusting my memory, I consulted an uncharacteristically clean looking Schirmer edition of the Preludes in question and was flabbergasted to find the following inscription:
“To Linda, from across the globe, with warmest wishes…” Jay 7/10/95
You might ask how did YOUR book of Chopin preludes end up on my book shelf? Obviously a clerical oversight that occurred in my departure from San Diego several years back. Needless to say your item should arrive on your doorstep within 6 to 8 weeks, carefully wrapped in chocolate.
…all those Schirmer editions look so much alike…
Yikes! Allusions of grandeur.
Must be something in the air. Or maybe just raindrops.
Yesterday I was watching this great German movie on DVD
called Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) and the special features had a section on the composer Gabriel Yared. The director went on to great lengths about the composer’s involvement in the film and how this special “love them” (yeah probably an unintentional allusion) really made the movie. So, I went back and watched it again. Well golly gee. That theme sure sounded like slight variation on the Schubert Impromptu that I tortured myself and other with. Maybe an allusion and maybe I deluded myself.
Anyway, your Air is just as good but don’t let this note give you illusions of grand yore. You are still a modernist miss.
Well, this is the first of these 30 ditties I’ve listened to, and while originally posted 2.5 years ago, nobody replied for the now-stale brownie points, so I’ll reply with what I thought was obvious from the clever title (or maybe just obvious having heard the music, esp. the nocturne my son has played aplenty). The two tunes here are Chopin’s nocturne in E flat (Op. 9 No. 2), and transposed from Gershwin’s opera, Porgy & Bess, Sportin’ Life’s “It Ain’t Necessarily So.”
“It Ain’t Necessarily a Nocturne” as a title would have been too straight forward and indeed less poetic.
Made me think of Godowsky’s wonderful yet tricky Chopin transcriptions, where in some, two pieces (etudes) are blended into one (but Gershwinized vs Godowskified).
The first few of these 30 sound files that I clicked on were “file not found.” I’ll be coming back hoping for more finds of the thirty.
Ding ding ding! You got it! 🙂 See, I should’ve really put brownies at stake, then maybe more people would’t have kept it to themselves…
MMN is currently experiencing audio hosting glitches. This should be fixed by Monday evening, after I meet with my web guru. 🙂
I see that Troy has already received the brownie points, but I’m sharing my input anyway. I recognized Chopin’s nocturne in E flat, but not being familiar with “It Ain’t Necessarily So”, I was at a loss to identify the Gershwin tune. I did hear bits that reminded me of “Raphsody in Blue” and his 2nd Prelude. Do you think I might be able to receive some “mixed nut (90% peanuts)” points?
BTW, I’m so glad I found you on Open Salon. This project is such a treat! Thanks for sharing it.
Thank you, Brent! Sure, you can have some mixed nuts… In fact, I should set out a virtual candy dish. 😉