Friday, December 5, 2008

Fancy this!

Music has plenty of rules. First when playing music you have to hit the right notes and hold them for the correct time. Then there are the conventions about harmonies, structure and the expectations of the era you are working in. Bach loved the complexity of fugues and the mathematical precision of his music, but he also yearned to cut loose as well. That explains the Ying and Yang quality of his Well Tempered Klavier. There is no getting around the rules and structure of a fugue, but the preceding prelude only had to be in the same key, otherwise anything goes!

Another work that encourages imagination and wildness without too many of music's rules getting in the way is the Fantasia. Here everything should sound spontaneous and free of convention. On the Piano this Sunday a program that seeks out the wild and free in the piano repertoire. Hear Fantasies, this Sunday afternoon at 5 here on KPAC and KXTI.

host Randy Anderson

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