Notes from the Composer: Night Music for piano (2021) was created during the Covid-19 pandemic. Feeling nostalgic, I was drawn to night themes and music from the past. The composition is in the form of a piano sonata, but each of the four movements also functions as an independent character piece. Night Music was written for and dedicated to the wonderful Argentinian/Canadian pianist Alexander Panizza. Due to Toronto’s restrictions concerning live concerts, it was composed to be premiered on the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra’s YouTube channel. Bartók Meets the Blues aims to mix musical styles derived from Central-Eastern European folk music and Afro-American music. First, I used musical elements from Béla Bartók’s Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm (and other pieces from his Mikrokosmos) and mixed them with major and minor Blues scales. I imagined this piece being debuted in a late-night jazz club, by a pianist who was not sure if this venue was the best place for this composition. The music begins in playful manner and becomes more intense and virtuosic as it goes along. My goal was to create a slightly quirky and humorous showpiece for the piano.

Audio recording and video by Alexander Panizza This video was sponsored by the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra and was made possible in part by support from the Toronto Arts Council, and the SOCAN Foundation. Websites: https://www.spo.ca https://alexanderpanizza.com/ https://ronaldroyer.com/ Audio recording copyright 2021 Alexander Panizza and Ronald Royer Video copyright 2021 Alexander Panizza Music copyright 2021 Ronald Royer

Media:

1. The Bloody Brood (1959) – Crime, Drama, Public Domain Motion Pictures, CC BY 3.0 Director: Julian Roffman; Actors: Barbara Lord, Jack Betts, Peter Falk; Production Company: Julian Roffman Productions; Country: Canada Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi… Public Domain Motion Pictures, CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/…, via Wikimedia Commons Information: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052637/

2. Symphony in Black: A Rhapsody of Negro Life (1935) – Short Film, Public Domain Director: Fred Waller; Actors: Duke Ellington, Duke Ellington Orchestra, Earl ‘Snake Hips’ Tucker, Billy Holiday; Production Company: Paramount Pictures; Country: USA Source (Library of Congress): https://www.loc.gov/item/92506512/ Information: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027068/…

3. Bartók, Béla (1927).jpg -portrait Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi… Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

4. Piet Mondrian – Composition with Red, Blue, and Yellow (1930) Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi… Piet Mondrian, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

5. Piet Mondrian – Victory Boogie Woogie (1944) Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi… Piet Mondrian, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

6. All other media from Envato Elements, https://elements.envato.com/