First Light
for solo piano
(1997)
duration: 6’
GRT • 036
CD available
First
Light
Yvonne Lau, piano
Fellowship of Australian Composers
Oneness
Diana Blom, piano
Wirripang
audio sample
score
available from
Promethean Editions
program note
Around 1997, I
started thinking more deeply about the music of composers
such as Chopin – effectually re–tracing aspects of my
musical heritage. First Light was not a change of style for me but a
slightly more conscious recognition of the music which is
central in defining the way that I hear functional harmony.
The piece also draws on more contemporary voicings
influenced by American composer/pianists, Lyle Mays, Keith
Jarrett and Herbie Hancock. For me, it is not so much a
question of ‘style’ as a question of harmonic ‘function’
and this strikes me as being more elusive to place and
time.
First
Light is dedicated
to my mother, Elizabeth Scarlett. The first performance was
given by Thomas Jude Sammut at the Malta International Arts
Festival, 8 July 1997.
article
available on resources
page
review
“Greenbaum's solo
piano piece, First
Light, was one of
the highlights of the opening Intercultural
Concert.”
Murray Black, The Australian, May 2006