work in progress - for review only, not for distribution
18 December 2005
When I sold my grand piano in London, I was in the Netherlands happy with my new "vleugel."
I wrote this piece, using all 88 keys of the piano, for the new owner,
a piano teacher I'd never met, to play on her new instrument, as a way
for me to say good-bye.
My first version, written on the same day as Opus 13, conveyed anger. Perhaps I was angry that
I had to part it for half the price I had bought some six years before or that it took so long to sell it.
I had spent a lot of time, tediously corresponding by e-mail with potential buyers, many of them fickle time-wasters.
I was never entirely sure about their true intentions. In my desperation to sell, I wrote an article about how to buy a piano .
Recalling August 1998 before it became fashionable to google "buying used pianos ",
I passed over a 5 foot Borsendorfer reconditioned by a piano technician because I had never
heard of Gerhard Adam, who was one of the many small piano builders in Germany before the wars.
I wanted to support the underdog and preferred its brighter sound. And that's how I ended up with
a grand piano that took over a year to sell.
In my revised version of this piano solo piece, I added more tender moments, for indeed it had brought
me joy during an important period in my life. It allowed me to give home concerts and compose, not to mention
relaxing after a business trip.
Notice the seventh chords I used throughout, to show a need to resolve or perhaps reluctance at the parting.
debut by Anne Ku, piano guitar duo afternoon concert on 13 March 2005, Bennekom, The Netherlands
SCORE (3 page PDF) please let me know if you are going to perform it & mention me!
MP3 file (1.7 MB, played/recorded by Anne Ku)
Comments gratefully appreciated. Please contact me using this form.
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