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Track(s) taken from CDH55454

Beautiful fresh flower

composer
Chinese melody
arranger
1935

Piers Lane (piano)
Recording details: April 2001
Henry Wood Hall, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Amanda Hurton
Engineered by Tony Faulkner
Release date: June 2002
Total duration: 1 minutes 48 seconds

Cover artwork: Front illustration. Roland Piper (b?)
 

Reviews

‘Inspired re-creations … strongly recommended to connoisseur and newcomer alike … Grainger's eclectic, idiosyncratic piano transcriptions, despatched with light-fingered clarity. Strauss swoons, Stephen Foster's all of a tingle. Excellent notes, too’ (BBC Music Magazine)

«Le pianiste joue franc jeu et rend un bel hommage au compositeur» (Le Monde de la Musique, France)
The year 1935 saw Grainger’s arrangement of an authentic Chinese tune that he had read about in A Theory of Evolving Tonality (1932) by the American musicologist, composer, organist and conductor, Joseph Yasser (1893–1981). It contained examples of tunes and authentic ways of harmonizing them. Grainger took the tune Beautiful Fresh Flower and harmonized it in the Kung Scale of the pentatonic series which Yasser provided in his book. The same melody, referring as it does to the jasmine, was also used by Puccini in Turandot.

from notes by Barry Peter Ould © 2002

En 1935, Grainger arrange un authentique air chinois qu’il a découvert dans A Theory of Evolving Tonality («Théorie de la tonalité évolutive», 1932) du musicologue, compositeur, organiste et chef d’orchestre américain Joseph Yasser (1893–1981). Cet ouvrage contient des exemples de mélodies et de manières de les harmoniser de façon authentique. Grainger choisit l’air Beautiful Fresh Flower («Belle fleur fraîche») et l’harmonise selon la gamme Kung de la série pentatonique présentée par Yasser dans son livre. Cette même mélodie, évoquant le jasmin, a par ailleurs été utilisée par Puccini dans Turandot.

extrait des notes rédigées par Barry Peter Ould © 2002
Français: Josée Bégaud

Im Jahr 1935 arrangierte Grainger eine authentische chinesische Melodie, über die er in dem Buch A Theory of Evolving Tonality (1932) von dem amerikanischen Musikwissenschaftler, Komponisten, Organisten und Dirigenten Joseph Yasser (1893–1981) gelesen hatte. Es enthielt Beispielmelodien sowie authentische Anweisungen, wie diese zu harmonisieren seien. Grainger entschied sich für die Melodie Beautiful Fresh Flower und harmonisierte sie in der Kung Tonleiter aus den pentatonischen Reihen, die Yasser in seinem Buch aufgeführt hatte. Puccini verwendete dieselbe Melodie, die sich auf Jasmin bezieht, in seiner Oper Turandot.

aus dem Begleittext von Barry Peter Ould © 2002
Deutsch: Viola Scheffel

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