Carr, Gordon

A lovely suite of pieces based on images of different animals. Written for Sally Mays and broadcast by her on ABC. For studios and schools.

Written for Sally Mays and broadcast by her on ABC, each movement is a musical sketch of one of Sally's friends, mostly distinguished musicians.

This piece takes its title of Lyric Suite from that by Edvard Grieg, a composer much admired by the arranger. There is no attempt to imitate his style, but Grieg said that he wanted to make houses for people to live in rather than build cathedrals, and that is very much the thought behind these pieces.

Miniatures like snap shots in an album.

This charming four movement work, that aptly sounds like the title, is heavily influenced by twentieth century masters. The first movement dances between key signatures, creating the feeling of puppets not altogether in control of their faculties, while the second movement is unashamedly intense in character. The third movement includes some very nice jazz-like voicing at the beginning of the movement, with Carr using all the piano registers to add depth and colour. The Latin flavour of the final movement is a total departure from the previous three movements, bringing the ear back to the ballet again, this time in a fiery dance. The asymmetrical rhythms, shifting time signatures and registers, and the once-again intense chromatics jar us back to the herky-jerky puppets as they summon their ersatz dance skills. For the advanced intermediate performer as well as seasoned professionals.