Esperançoso ("Enquanto houver música, há esperança.")
Hopeful (“As long as there is music there is hope.”)

With the arrival of the brandnew virtual classic guitar by Modartt's Pianoteq, I was eager to test the sound of the available guitars. Also, we live in Portugal now and I got totally smitten with their traditional fado.

Of course, this piece could be much improved and tightened, but it is probably better to leave it as imperfect as it is. I hope you enjoy it!

Images from my childhood / A children's drawing

For all 7-year olds in the world, little and big.

In 2021 my brother Ernie unearthed the 1955 "Kittens in an Apple Tree" photo from the family archives (see cover). The picture evokes a strong childhood memory, reminding me of the drawing I made at the time of those kittens in that tree.

I was 7 years old and we had just moved into a big new house with a sprawling backyard and even our own piece of forest land. I remember that pathetic, dead apple tree behind the house clearly. Picturing it I still experience the thrill of having started a new life in our own paradise as a young boy. Capturing this image in music is quite a challenge but nevertheless worth trying; redrawing the scene so to speak, this time in notes and me being ten times older now.

The first movement with its simple theme (introduced in bar 7, 8) is reminiscent of a nursery song expressing the ignorance of these furry softballs, oblivious of any peril. I titled it ironicly, Life in the apple tree is not complicated. The second movement depicts nature's challenges, the lack of shelter for the rain. The next short part (III) is a kind of interlude, reflective of my personal sentiment of moving into the new big house with a huge backyard, starting a new life. The fourth movement, The kittens have no fear at all, reflects, besides on the kittens, onto myself as well: me, that easily excited youngster at that age, not unlike all youngsters at that time, I suppose.

This duet starts out with a classic theme in B-flat minor, - after about two minutes transitioning into the main segment: a slightly atonal and a mostly dissonant back-and-forth between the two players followed by a brief variation on the opening theme leading up to the Ennio Morricone tribute starting at around 5:50 minutes.

The beloved Italian composer Ennio Morricone wrote over 400 film scores in a vast variety of styles in addition to 100+ classical works. Most impressive and memorable for me as a young man were the soundtracks for the so-called "spaghetti-westerns" evoking so effectively and suspenseful the loneliness of the desert.

Morricone passed away July 7, 2020 and I listened to a few of his most famous compositions once again with great joy!

Just a short study for piano in classical style, and as the title suggests: suited for ballet.

The six movements are loosely related and most of them (especially III, IV and V) could be played on their own outside of the suite. VI should be fun as an encore; as the finale, it is a lighthearted scherzo kind of thing. In general the pieces have a percussive feel to them and rarely venture into the realm of romanticism. Carré reminds of pop and it swings a little; the piece, Sur tes orteils ("On your toes") is a bit of an outlier and, as the title suggests, rather suited for ballet in my opinion (watch the music video on YouTube).

I. Chambre Sans Berceau (Room without crib)

II. Éclats Des Vieilles Tempêtes (Shards of old storms)

III. Je t'aime Encore, Tu Sais, Je t'aime (I still love you, you know, I love you)