Daydream by Shulamit Ran Chamber Music - Sheet Music

SKU: PR.110418130

ISBN 9781491100455. UPC: 680160626045. 9x12 inches.

Shulamit Ran’s DAYDREAM is a dramatic, far-reaching fantasy in miniature form. “DAYDREAM is structured as a series of ever-expanding cycles of activity,” writes the composer, ”evolving from the languid, almost suspended-in-the-air character of the opening, to the far more passionate, ‘heroic’ and ‘ferocious,’ peaks. At its conclusion, the piece seems to evaporate into a brief reverie, reminicent of Chopin.” Players and listeners alike will be entranced by the music’s shimmering textures and surprising turns.
To say that DAYDREAM for piano is a small-scale composition is true, but also deceptive, the reason being that its brevity belies the fact that it packs a great deal of drama into its four minutes. In the musical score I marked its leisurely opening with the words In the spirit of a fantasy, as well as Slow, yet flexible. This opening intersperses a series of four ascending chords that are rather solemn in character, with a signature motivic cell that returns in varied forms several times in the work’s early portion and bears the description“distant bells.” Overall, DAYDREAM is structured as a series of ever-expanding cycles of activity. These cycles gradually gain momentum, evolving from the languid, almost suspended-in-the-air character of the opening, to the far more passionate, “heroic” as well as “ferocious” (as marked in the score) peaks in the work’s latter parts, with the piano writing becoming progressively more florid and virtuosic. At its conclusion, the piece seems to evaporate into a brief reverie, with a Chopin-like quote over which I wrote “as though from a dream.”.