CPMusicLibrary's video: Cuando el rio suenda-When the river sings by Jeffrey McCune solo piano

Notes by the composer. Literally “When the river sings”, but most often a Spanish proverb meaning, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire” (Cuando el rio suena, agua lleva), this solo piano piece was commissioned by Edmonton pianist Peter Jancewicz in 1993. The work is a virtuosic, ternary composition heavily inspired by Spanish flamenco, deep song (Cante jondo), and random lyric poetic verses by Frederico Garcia Lorca. It is tonally structured with modal and artificial scales built around the tonal axes of B-flat : E-flat; E : F; B-flat : E natural; and concluding ultimately in the tonal area of E. The piece opens with a free form tenor melody over a sustained bass chord, gradually developing and increasing in range and intensity. Reaching an initial climax at section’s end, the melody gives way to a fast, gestural and aggressive middle section, with many leaps, repeated notes and percussive effects, inspired by the style of the virtuosic flamenco guitar. Melodic fragments of the opening section are broken down, stretched out, or ripped apart, at times violently, and condensed at section’s end on the pitch of E, where the energy dissipates, but does not resolve. The opening material returns in the third section, but built around a tritone axis of B-flat : E natural. A short but intense outburst in the middle of the final section resolves the tritone axis to the new tonal axis of B : E; the melodic gestures become more settled and introspective, and ultimately resolve, quietly, on E. Publisher note: the composer changed the ending from what you hear, to be less abrupt. Composer’s Biography Edmonton composer Jeff McCune’s works have been performed throughout Canada, the United States, Europe, and east Asia. His works encompass the worlds of symphonic music, chamber works, art-song and opera and have been performed by such organizations as the Toronto Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, Calgary Symphony, Kitcher-Waterloo Symphony, Arraymusic, the Hammerhead Consort, Pro Coro Concert Choir, and the Duo Majoya. Many of his concert works have also been recorded and broadcast internationally, including Red Hills and Blue Sky: Hommage to Georgia O’Keeffe, the Painter Suite and Crossing to Byzantium. Jeff McCune is an Associate Composer with the Canadian Music Centre and was also the Artistic Administrator for Edmonton Opera, serving from 1992 until his retirement in 2012. He has been active as a judge and adjudicator for the Edmonton International Youth Talent Explosion and the Johann Strauss Foundation competitions and as an instructor for the Edmonton Life Long Learners Association (ELLA) through the University of Alberta. In his spare time he loves to paint, cook, and work on his garden. His works appear on Edmonton’s CLEFRecords and Arktos labels and his works are represented and published by Jean-Marie Barker at Counterpoint Music Library Services in Kawartha Lakes, Ontario. for sale from the publisher Counterpoint Music Library Services https://cpmusiclibrary.ca/product/cuando-mccune/