Charles Griffes ‒ 3 Tone-Pictures, Op.5

Charles Tomlinson Griffes, 3 Tone-Pictures, Op.5 (1910 - 1912) Performed by Denver Oldham 00:00 - No. 1 The Lake at Evening 04:22 - No. 2 The Vale of Dreams 07:29 - No. 3 The Night Winds The Three Tone-Pictures, Op. 5, the composer's first published piano works, make a beautiful and effective set. Begun in 1910 and later revised, they were published by G. Schirmer in 1915 on the recommendation of Busoni. With them, Griffes left the German romanticism of his early music and created a unique impressionistic style. Fragmentary in nature, they are filled with chromaticism, tonal ambiguity, creative pedal effects, and a subtle sense of colour and imagination. They show Griffes as a master miniaturist and tone-poet. The Lake at Evening is haunting and hypnotic, perfectly capturing the spirit of the Yeats poem which inspired it "lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore". In ABA form, it is dominated by a simple ostinato figure which creates a sense of unity and tranquility. The Vale of Dreams has a disturbing quality, conjuring up a troubled subconscious. It utilises extreme chromaticism, melodic parallel thirds and an unsettled tonality. Sensual and voluptuous, it is possessed of a dark and almost decadent sadness. The Night Winds flies up and down the keyboard in a shimmering spray of notes, the sighing left hand melody surrounded by a torrent of whole-tone based arpeggios. A sort of "baby" Feux d'Artifice (Debussy), the ending is reminiscent of that of Ravel's Scarbo. RIP Hexameron: March 31, 2007 - February 29th, 2016