CSM 16: Piano Music by Miriam Hyde
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Item Open Access Anthology of Music on Disc: CSM: 16 Piano Music of Miriam Hyde(Canberra School of Music, Australian National University) Crisp, DeborahItem Open Access Miriam Hyde: Andante Tranquillo' From Piano Conce(Canberra School of Music, Australian National University, 1934) Composer: Miriam HydeOf the six movements of the two piano concertos, the 'Andante tranquillo' of the second concerto lends itself best to a piano transcription. The listener will doubtless form some idea of the orchestration that prevails; it may be sustained string tone, a few chords on the brass, or an echoing woodwind phrase. A feature of the solo part is a series of descending bell-like chords. Sir Malcolm Sargent, who conducted a performance by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 1938, remarked: 'This movement is a real romance'. The first performance took place in London in 1935, with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Constant Lambert. Both concertos have been recorded by the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Geoffrey Simon.Item Open Access Miriam Hyde: Brownhill Creek In Spring(Canberra School of Music, Australian National University, 1942) Composer: Miriam HydeBrownhill Creek in Spring was another war-time product, written in Adelaide in 1942; it was inspired by Esmond George's watercolour, Green Hills, which hangs near my Bluthner piano. That charming part of Adelaide was within walking distance of our home in Mitcham. It was hard to reconcile the peaceful surroundings, the gurgling of the creek and the occasional bird calls, with the holocaust that was taking place in Europe.Item Open Access Miriam Hyde: Drought-Stricken Grasses(Canberra School of Music, Australian National University, 1964) Composer: Miriam HydeDrought-stricken Grasses conjures up an Australian ambience. It was prompted by a picture of Ayers Rock, with a foreground of parched grasses. Personified, they wait, watching deceptive grey clouds gathering, recalling the blessing of some previous sprinkle, and always longing for another revivifying shower, which eventually comes with exultation and sparkle. Little runnels trickle along the red earth and disappear. The grasses are resigned again to their arid environment.Item Open Access Miriam Hyde: Lullaby For Christine(Canberra School of Music, Australian National University, 1950) Composer: Miriam HydeLullaby for Christine was begun in King George V Hospital, after the birth ofmy daughter. Very fittingly, she played it for her A.Mus.A. diploma in 1965. This Lullaby, and Magpies at Sunrise, were among the few works recorded by Walter Gieseking for the ABC during his 1952 tour: a gracious act of homage to Australian music.Item Open Access Miriam Hyde: Magpies At Sunrise(Canberra School of Music, Australian National University, 1946) Composer: Miriam HydeIn 1946 my mother quoted in a letter a fragment of magpie warble, heard in her garden in Adelaide. Magpies at Sunrise is based on that fragment. The opening motive of six notes is developed extensively, with occasional cadenzas in the upper register. One can also imagine two calls of a whip bird lashing through the stillness. This is probably as Australian in atmosphere as any of my piano works. I sent it to my parents for their wedding anniversary in that year.Item Open Access Miriam Hyde: Memories Of A Happy Day(Canberra School of Music, Australian National University, 1939) Composer: Miriam HydeI recall an idyllic day spent by the Hacking River at Audley, near Sydney. The middle section of the work, for many bars over a pedal-point of D, strongly suggests the ripple from oars as boats move leisurely along. At the climax, the chords become chimes, perhaps presaging wedding bells, threatened by the gathering clouds of war.Item Open Access Miriam Hyde: Reflected Reeds(Canberra School of Music, Australian National University, 1956) Composer: Miriam HydeReflected Reeds is an impression of a marshy area through which the Coogee tram used to run. The reeds, leaning this way and that, made fantastic patterns reflected in the shallow water. Arpeggiated chords are a feature of the work, rippling upwards (as they are most often heard), downwards, or moving outwards, evenly spread between the hands.Item Open Access Miriam Hyde: Sonata In G Min(Canberra School of Music, Australian National University, 1941) Composer: Miriam HydeThe Sonata in G Minor was very much a product of the war years. It was composed while my husband, Marcus Edwards, was a prisoner of war in Germany. The slow movement reflects this sombre period, but the work ends jubilantly, anticipating triumph and return. The lyrical second subject of the first movement, with its falling third, is like a call to the distant beloved. It appears in different guises throughout the sonata as a unifying element. There are three movements: 'Allegro energ1co', 'Andante solennemente', and 'Allegro con brio'.Item Open Access Miriam Hyde: Spring(Canberra School of Music, Australian National University, 1939) Composer: Miriam HydeSpring, much more European than Australian, was written a few years after I had experienced several exuberant springs in England. It is associated with Tennyson's poem, Early Spring, which refers to a 'Jacob's Ladder' (see Genesis chapter 28, verses 10-12), and angels passing up and down, flinging 'stars through the woods' - presumably the thousands of daffodils.Item Open Access Miriam Hyde: Study In Blue, White And Gold(Canberra School of Music, Australian National University, 1969) Composer: Miriam HydeStudy in Blue, White and Gold is a short, scintillating piece, based on the subject of a Danish embroidery, depicting, against a blue background (B major), a white candle (C major) in a shallow holder, decorated with small golden crosses (E major). Most of the piece is contrived on these three tonalities. A brief excursion to flat keys suggests the warmer colour of the candle flame.Item Open Access Miriam Hyde: The Poplar Avenue(Canberra School of Music, Australian National University, 1936) Composer: Miriam HydeThe Poplar Avenue was inspired by a poplar avenue in the Fitzroy Gardens in Melbourne, in late spring, 1936. Seen at first in their mature green, the leaves flickering in a light breeze, one can imagine the tall trees turning to autumn colouring in the B-flat minor section. A central climax - perhaps a storm - brings down the leaves, and the original key of F-sharp minor returns. A thin texture at high pitch suggests the filigree of bare twigs, from which drops of water are falling. Winter has come, but the Tierce de Picardie ending recalls Shelley's words, 'Can Spring be far behind?'.Item Open Access Miriam Hyde: Valley Of The Rocks(Canberra School of Music, Australian National University, 1974) Composer: Miriam HydeValley of Rocks is an impression of the coastal splendour at Lynton, North Devon, which I saw one evening at sunset, when the dramatic rocks loomed against the golden, fading sky, and the wrinkling sea murmured far below. As one of seven works set for the Australian component of the Bicentennial Sydney International Piano Competition in 1988, it proved by far the most popular choice, and was given twelve performances in the quarter-finals.Item Open Access Miriam Hyde: Wet Night On The Highway(Canberra School of Music, Australian National University, 1958) Composer: Miriam HydeWet Night on the Highway came into being following my first experience of television. While waiting for public transport outside the ABC studios at Gore Hill in Sydney, I responded to the dynamic scene: red tail lights disappearing; headlights flashing by; colours reflected in the dark oily road; car horns tooting, and the rain varying from spasmodic drizzle to heavy downpour.