Another romantic piece

[ted]

I wrote Song of Aragorn in 1970. In its own way, it is a good example of the power of music to mean completely different things to different people. I remember vividly that it came to me while I was standing waiting for the crossing at the corner of Customs Street and Commerce Street in Auckland on my way to work. I worked it out that night and named it as one of a suite related to the associated story, which I was reading at the time.

Later on, I played it for my aunt and it became what amounted to a lifelong musical obsession for her. She was a brazen romantic in life rather than art, but we need not go into that aspect here. "Oh no Teddy," she insisted, "You mustn't call it that. You must call it 'Everlasting Love' because it reminds me of the great love I experienced with ..... "  It is impossible to exaggerate the intensity of her fixation. I assuaged it somewhat by dedicating the piece to her but she was still talking about  it right up until her death a few years ago. I refused to change the name.

I really think we kid ourselves if we think we are communicating anything precise through musical sound alone.

[rachfan]

Hi Ted,

This piece has a very different sound from the last two of your romantic genre, and I enjoyed hearing it.  I got a chuckle out of that story about your aunt's fixation on the title of this piece.   But the main thing is that she loved the music.  Very nice, and well played!

[ted]

Thanks again. I have always tried to cultivate many ways of playing the piano, many styles and many physical techniques. Indeed, as I age I seem to broaden and I now perceive value in much music I would have dismissed when young. I am very pleased I am going this way rather than the more common opposite. It might mean I do not penetrate to the same depth as others in any particular area, but it seems to me I have more fun. To a large extent I owe this characteristic to Llewelyn Jones, who could compose, play and improvise in almost any known idiom. Rather sadly, he neglected to develop his own musical voice to the extent he might have, but I think I have dodged that trap.

[furtwaengler]

I love it, Ted. There is something humorous parading as if it were serious...a rather Richard Straussian trait (and now I've mentioned R.Strauss in two straight posts). I love how abrupt and fickle it is, leading to that quick, powerful ending.

I've listened to it once, and it is stuck in my head...do you allow others access to your scores? 

[ted]

Yes, of course, here it is. Mind you, this is as I played it years ago. Nowadays I just stick in anything I fancy. In this recording I omitted the introduction in octaves altogether. I stuck in a couple of extra handfuls in the middle run and in the ending I usually now "fold" the four note repeated figure up and down in each grip. This results in playing twice as many notes twice as fast as written, but oddly enough is easier.

[ted]

Last page.

I also see that bar 9 of page 5 should be played an octave higher than written.

[furtwaengler]

Thanks a lot; I love the piece!