Walter Carroll - Four Country Dances

Описание: Christopher Baxter - Piano

These Four Country Dances were the last of Carroll's compositions to be published (in 1953), and are typically evocative and honest.

1 - Elfinboys ("He piped, I sung; and when he sung I piped, By change of turns each making other merry." - Spencer)
2 - The Fairy Ring ("By the moon we sport and play, With the night begins our day." - Lyly)
3 - Gnome (His limbs are all antics - he skips like a flea; His body is brown as the bark of a tree." - Horne)
4 - Zephyr ("Tender as a harper's string, Is the low wind's lute-playing." - Dayre)

Like many pianists, I first encountered the music of Walter Carroll the ABRSM grade syllabi, and was instantly captivated by the perfect balance between refined craftsmanship and imagination. Carroll was renowned in his lifetime for his commitment to the training of music teachers - quick to realise that being a virtuoso performer did not automatically make for having the ability to teach effectively. Much of his musical activity was devoted to training musicians in the art of teaching. The many suites of piano pieces were all composed as teaching material in response to what Carroll felt was a lack of inspired material for children, and a vast range of expressive and technical devices are explored, along with beautiful melodic and harmonic invention. As a teacher, I never tire of exploring these pieces with my students, and as an ABRSM examiner, I'm delighted to hear these pieces presented by piano students across the globe.