Score
Hidden Fragments of Mau Mau : piano trio / Taran Carter.
Library shelf no. 785.2813/CAR 4 [Available for loan]
Work Overview
Hidden Fragments of Mau Mau is based around the hidden musical gems of Mau Mau the Opera. This new work, a piano trio, was composed to allow these hidden musical fragments to escape the opera house and be heard in a purely musical setting.
Hidden Fragments of Mau Mau begins with driving polyrhythmic ostinati that incorporate pizzicato effects, glissandi, string harmonics and extremes of register to suggest the traffic of 1950s Nairobi. The work develops into a series of melodic ideas based around pentatonic scales and around the work's central harmonic structure of Eb, A and Bb. The music alternates between melodic and rhythmic based sound worlds until a fiery piano cadenza preempts a change to a contemplative, mystical mood suggesting the act of stargazing at the African night sky.
The Mau Mau Rebellion was a military conflict that took place in British Kenya between 1952 and 1960 and is the central setting of Mau Mau the Opera.
Work Details
Year: 2017
Instrumentation: Violin, cello, piano.
Duration: 8 min.
Difficulty: Advanced
The composer notes: Mau Mau the Opera is, as yet, unfinished. It is currently being developed into a video installation work with plans for a premiere in Colchester, U.K. in 2018.
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