The recording of Dragon Songs of Granny Chang, made in 1981, was digitally transferred from the original tape master and still sounds fresh and dynamic today.
Compositional Technique
For Dragon Songs of Granny Chang, Richard Blackford created unusual textures by having recorders blow only their mouthpieces and pianists pluck or stroke strings inside the piano to sound like a Chinese zither.
Composer Biography
Richard Blackford, the composer, was awarded the Tagore Gold Medal and Mendelssohn Scholarship at the Royal College of Music London, and later studied in Italy with Hans Werner Henze.
Composer Biography
Richard Blackford's four-hour choral and orchestral score for CNN/BBC Millennium won an Emmy Award for Best Title Sequence in 2000.
Composition History
Dragon Songs of Granny Chang is a cantata for children based on fourteen poems from a 1900 book of Chinese children's songs in English translation, discovered by the composer in 1980.
Compositional Technique
In the Five Naidu Songs, the clarinet is used to imitate the Indian double-reed instrument, the shenai, weaving around the vocal line.
Composer's Artistic Vision
For his Seven Hokusai Miniatures, Richard Blackford concentrated on Hokusai's prints that evoke movement and dynamism, such as 'A Sudden Gust of Wind' and 'Waterfalls'.
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