Tanner, Mark: Christmas Suite for Piano

Contents

1. A Not So Silent Night
The tranquil beauty of ‘Silent Night’ is turned abruptly on its head in this punchy version, in which rude accents and an emerging boogie-woogie flavour come to the fore.
2. The Decorated Hall
A thinly disguised ‘Deck the Hall’ is given an entirely new complexion in this lightly decorated piece in a quasi Renaissance style.
3. The Good King
A tango might not seem the most obvious genre in which to reimagine ‘Good King Wenceslas’, but set in a minor key, the piece takes on an attractive quirkiness.
4. I Saw Three Queens
Immediately after Christmas 2015 Gillian and I set sail on the Queen Elizabeth, bound for Cape Town. Embarking from Southampton on that same day were the other two magnifient liners in the Cunard fleet, Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria. We embarked in convoy to a turbulent sea ablaze with fireworks and flag-wavers. ‘I Saw Three Ships’ seemed the perfect backdrop for this piece.
5. A Partridge in a Holly Tree
The piece begins with ‘The Holly and the Ivy’, but morphs impercepibly into ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ half way through. Careful pedalling (and half-pedalling) will assist in the left hand’s notes — some blurring is desired.
6. Jubilo
‘In Dulce Jubilo’ has always struck me as the most optimistic and warm-hearted of Christmas carols, which has its roots firmly in the Middle Ages. Here, the bells take on a rather darker, more portentous tone altogether, cast in a minor key amid a torrent of notes.

Grades 6–8
Former Spartan Press Cat. No.: SP1342

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