|
Mira (1995) |
piano - 6'
Commissioned by The Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music for Spectrum, compiled by Thalia Myers. First performance: 22 June, 1996, Royal College of Music, London as part of the Spectrum launch. Compact disc recording: NMC (1999) "Spectrum 1"The contemporary equivalent of the Beethoven bagatelle is in short supply in the late 20th century and Thalia Myers began an ongoing project to redress that problem by commissioning first 20 composers for volume 1 of the Spectrum (1996) series and then in 1997, Spectrum 2 (1999) with 30 composers participating. The two volume set is aimed a students, amateurs and professionals wishing to explore short 20th century works in a variety of styles. Mira is an asteroid discovered in 1980 by Hugo Mira (in Argentina) and eventually named after him. It is also a beautifully sonorous two syllable word in the English language, but with no meaning. Mira, the piano work, is tonal, melodic and makes use of both conventional piano techniques as well as forearm clusters to building to a climax. A version for toy piano, Mirabella- A Tarantella for Toy Piano, was made for Margaret Leng Tan's toy piano collection in 1995.
Notes © 1995 Stephen Montague