Notes and Editorial Reviews
Have you ever had a friend who could sit down at the piano during a party and make up funny versions of familiar tunes, playing the accompaniment to one while singing another, or combine several songs in an unexpected and comical way? English composer Peter Dickinson is such a person, and while he has written a number of substantial works (string quartets, piano concertos and the like), this disc is comprised of his lighter fare: bluesy ballads, ragtime travesties of Satie and, perhaps most interestingly, a cycle of songs set to odd verses of Stevie Smith, each of which was meant by the poet to be sung to a familiar tune. Dickinson takes those tunes and twists them a bit further, using unyielding off-key accompaniments, to create a mood of
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whimsical alienation. The works are archly and crisply performed by the composer at the piano with his sister, soprano Meriel Dickinson, who for all the world sounds like a female version of the great tenor Peter Pears. Read less
Works on This Recording
1.
Stevie's Tunes by Peter Dickinson
Performer:
Meriel Dickinson (Mezzo Soprano),
Peter Dickinson (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1984; England
2.
Concerto Rag by Peter Dickinson
Performer:
Peter Dickinson (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1984; England
3.
Extravaganzas by Peter Dickinson
Performer:
Peter Dickinson (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: England
4.
Quartet Rag by Peter Dickinson
Performer:
Peter Dickinson (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1975; England
5.
Blue Rose by Peter Dickinson
Performer:
Peter Dickinson (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1979; England
6.
Wild Rose Rag by Peter Dickinson
Performer:
Peter Dickinson (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1985; England
7.
Satie Transformations (3) by Peter Dickinson
Performer:
Peter Dickinson (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: England
8.
A Red, Red Rose by Peter Dickinson
Performer:
Meriel Dickinson (Mezzo Soprano),
Peter Dickinson (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: England
9.
Hymn-Tune Rag by Peter Dickinson
Performer:
Peter Dickinson (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1985; England
10.
So we'll go no more a-roving by Peter Dickinson
Performer:
Meriel Dickinson (Mezzo Soprano),
Peter Dickinson (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1971; England
11.
Patriotic Rag by Peter Dickinson
Performer:
Peter Dickinson (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1986; England
12.
Piano Blues (4) by Peter Dickinson
Performer:
Peter Dickinson (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1973; England
Sound Samples
Satie Transformations: No. 1. -
Satie Transformations: No. 2. -
Satie Transformations: No. 3. -
So We'll go no more A-Roving
Piano Blues: No. 1. Extremely slow and quiet
Piano Blues: No. 2. Very slow and intense
Piano Blues: No. 3. Very slow and intimate
Piano Blues: No. 4. Slow and sustained
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