Category: Chamber/Solo Pieces (2015-present)

Two Fiddlers

solo piano (intermediate level)

1 min. 35 sec.

Two Fiddlers was based on a simple, modal melody, intended to recall traditional East Coast Canadian fiddling. The left hand, when it enters, brings a few more interesting harmonies, outside of the modal scale the right hand is using. Partway through the piece, the left hand (or “second fiddler”) crosses over the right hand on the keyboard and takes up the main melody. Metrical changes, offbeat accents, and the tradeoff of melodic material between the “two fiddlers” add to the playful spirit of the music.

Sheet music is available through Syrinx Press:

https://elizabethknudson.ca/syrinx-press

 

Black is the Colour

solo cello
7 min. 

Black is the Colour was inspired by the Appalachian folk melody, “Black is the Colour of My True Love’s Hair”, and draws on this theme as the basis of a series of variations.  It also draws inspiration from the photography of Barcelona-born Canadian artist Tana (Tatiana Rivero Sanz), and was composed to accompany three contemporary dancers.

The piece received its premiere (with the composer as cellist), on April 18, 2015 at the Blank Tank Gallery in Gastown, Vancouver, along with dancers Linda Arkelian, Jessie Au, and Joylyn Secunda, to celebrate the opening of a solo visual art exhibition by Tana.

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Sheet music is available through the Canadian Music Centre.