Percy Grainger
SEA-SONG SKETCH for piano solo
edited by Penelope Thwaites
Bardic Edition BDE1067
In a busy musical life, Grainger’s experimental ideas often remained unexpanded - as seeds of what might have become full-scale works. Sea-Song Sketch is a good example - typically dense in texture and ideas, carefully dated, and leaving us with a sense of "what might have been".
It is puzzling that he labelled it to be played "fast". Played like that, a brief, seemingly garbled 14 bars go by with little impact. If they are played using the right tempi, there is time for their fleeting beauties to emerge. The rise and fall of waters had fascinated Grainger since childhood and these few bars seem to suggest passing a window, catching a sudden glimpse of the colours and movements of a patch of sea, then moving on.
As in other works (for example Lord Melbourne in A Lincolnshire Posy), Grainger achieves his 'free music' effects here with constantly shifting time signatures. Although his directions for (for example) 1½/4 may look arresting, there is little point in the device when the same result is achieved more readably by 3/8. Hence the editorial decision to use the latter. Penelope Thwaites
Grainger’s Sea-Song is one of a number of pieces he originally thought of as part of his 'Free Music' experiments. In a version written to be performed by 6 Theremins, it is known as 'Beatless Music'. Other versions for string ensembles with or without organ have been realised from Grainger’s manuscripts by Alan B.Stout and are available from the present publisher.
This sketch for piano solo published herewith for the first time has been edited by Penelope Thwaites, who also gave the recording premiere of it on Volume 2 of her complete survey of Grainger’s piano music for the monumental Chandos Grainger Edition (CHAN 9919) or CD No.18 of The Complete Grainger Edition 60 Years: 1961-2021 (CHAN 20192(21)). Barry Peter Ould
It is puzzling that he labelled it to be played "fast". Played like that, a brief, seemingly garbled 14 bars go by with little impact. If they are played using the right tempi, there is time for their fleeting beauties to emerge. The rise and fall of waters had fascinated Grainger since childhood and these few bars seem to suggest passing a window, catching a sudden glimpse of the colours and movements of a patch of sea, then moving on.
As in other works (for example Lord Melbourne in A Lincolnshire Posy), Grainger achieves his 'free music' effects here with constantly shifting time signatures. Although his directions for (for example) 1½/4 may look arresting, there is little point in the device when the same result is achieved more readably by 3/8. Hence the editorial decision to use the latter. Penelope Thwaites
Grainger’s Sea-Song is one of a number of pieces he originally thought of as part of his 'Free Music' experiments. In a version written to be performed by 6 Theremins, it is known as 'Beatless Music'. Other versions for string ensembles with or without organ have been realised from Grainger’s manuscripts by Alan B.Stout and are available from the present publisher.
This sketch for piano solo published herewith for the first time has been edited by Penelope Thwaites, who also gave the recording premiere of it on Volume 2 of her complete survey of Grainger’s piano music for the monumental Chandos Grainger Edition (CHAN 9919) or CD No.18 of The Complete Grainger Edition 60 Years: 1961-2021 (CHAN 20192(21)). Barry Peter Ould
