“A beauty is Tiefer und Tiefer for strings. What a splendid intense sounding simplicity.”
Hans Visser
Gooi en Eemlander, 2010
For piano, chamber ensemble, or orchestra
May be performed separately
For orchestral settings, Raise the Colors may be added
Duration: 14 minutes
The Fiddler of Balleykeel
Tiefer und Tiefer
Ewig Du
Ehemals
COMPOSER’S NOTES
“Tiefer und Tiefer” means deeper and deeper. It changes key after every six measures, but is strictly diatonic in between. “Fiddler” is strictly diatonic throughout. Since the tunes seemed Irish when they occurred to me, I harmonized them mostly in fourths and fifths. Then I needed a title. My own patronymic ancestors appear to have come from a suburb of Belfast call Ballymoney. Since “The Fiddler of Ballymoney” by Getty might raise unintended nuances, I moved my ancestors a few miles away to Ballykeel. “Ewig Du” (Forever You), which owes much to the spirit of Schubert, was set for piano some twenty years ago. So was “Ehemals” (Once Upon a Time) which is more in the style of a later waltz king.
Gordon Getty
Listen to or purchase the Orchestral Works album
Listen to or purchase the Piano Pieces album
Reviews
“Getty’s lovely Four Traditional Pieces opened the program in a performance of disarming sonorities. Each episode in the quartet explores harmonic conventions through a distinctly nostalgic lens; the music’s echoes of vivacious dance tunes and sweet, folk-tinged melodies recall the parlor songs of a bygone era.”
Georgia Rowe
San Francisco Classical Voice, 2012
“A beauty is Tiefer und Tiefer for strings. What a splendid intense sounding simplicity…With The Fiddler of Ballykeel he refers catchingly to a neighbourhood near Belfast where his ancestors came from. Raising the Colors is a beautiful fanfare-like encore for brass, virtuoso finished with wood and strings.”
Hans Visser
Gooi en Eemlander, 2010