w16265
| Title | October Memories |
| Contributors |
Derek Ball (composer) |
| Composition date | 2005 |
| Duration (mins) | 7 |
| Category | instrumental keyboard |
| Instrumentation | Pf |
| Commissioned by | |
| Key signature | |
| First line | |
| First performed | |
| Notes | For Fern Bartley. |
| Programme Note | I wrote this piece for my niece, the Dublin pianist Fern Bartley whose connection with International Communism is admittedly a bit tenuous. Having been on a visit to Dublin and realised just to what extent the Celtic Tiger has driven out the spirit of James Connolly, I thought a little bit of communism might just do no harm at all, so I wrote a piece referring obliquely to that famous anthem of the Communist movement in general and the October Revolution in particular, the 'Internationale', using its tune and many other tunes in a multiple variation form of the sort I'm obsessed with at the moment. Everything in the piece is melodic to some extent, and at any one time there are 3 themes, a main one indicated by marcato accents (^^^) and two subsidiary themes, all in 2- or 3-part counterpoint. I have written a double bar each time a different theme comes into prominence, thus dividing the piece into over 30 sections which play without a break. The tunes are all related through a complex serial system of which Uncle Joe would not have approved at all! The main theme in each section should always be played f and the subsidiary themes kept less prominent, except where the written dynamics state otherwise. October memories? - well it seems like only yesterday, doesn't it. To the barricades comrades! |
This work is associated with the following collection items:
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