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Study in Poetry No. 5 [War Music] (2009)

Score Available from the Canadian Music Centre

Samples

  • Study in Poetry No. 5
    [complete]
Instrumentation:Piano Solo [Advanced]
Genre:Piano Music

Premiere: September 27, 2009, School of Music, Queen's University, Kingston, ON by John Burge, pianist.

Program Note: Based on the title of a book of poetry by Charles Bukowski titled, "Play the Piano Drunk Like a Percussion Instrument Until the Fingers Begin to Bleed a Bit."

The series of piano etudes entitled, Studies in Poetry, was started in 2000 while John Burge was on a sabbatical leave from teaching at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. This leave coincided with the purchase of a grand piano and the etudes were a way of both breaking in the new keyboard and investigating some personal explorations in composition. An avid reader of poetry, the composer simply took the titles of some of his favorite books of English poetry and provided a musical response to the book’s title. The resultant works are really a tribute to each poet and the first three etudes were premiered by the composer in the fall of 2001. Through practicing these etudes consistently over many months, the composer was able to make a number of refinements and had thought to add a few more etudes to the series over the next few years. As often happens though, the demands of everyday life and more pressing commissions meant that he was not able to return to this series until his next sabbatical in 2008. At that time the composer added three more etudes to the series and these new etudes were premiered in the fall of 2009.

WAR MUSIC (Studies in Poetry No. 5), is inspired by a book of the same title by British poet, Christopher Logue. This book actually brings together three previously published volumes that collectively retell portions of Homer’s, THE ILLIAD, in a most satisfying fashion. Much has been written about Logue’s interpretation of this story, often focusing on how he brings a screen writer’s perspective to establishing a scene and the way his dialogue vividly captures the characters and their dramatic situations. The sonnet that appears towards the end of the book, beginning with the words, “Ever since men began in time,“ (page 197) is Shakespearian in all respects. The musical interpretation of the etude consistently makes use of a twelve-tone row that is constructed to emphasize four different triads, often presented in fanfare-like gestures. As this book is really one long poem with many points of resonance, the resultant etude also turned out to be the longest of the set. The longer duration is primarily the result of the extended endings that gradually become a kind of funeral march in response to the percussive and dissonant climaxes earlier in the music. A snare drum effect in the lower strings of the piano on the final few pages underscores the poem’s militaristic story line.

Please note that John Burge is currently preparing a new edition of the Studies in Poetry Series which will be published under the Red Leaf Pianoworks label for release in 2021.  In the meantime, please access the music through the Canadian Music Centre link at the side.