1) Chronicling at The Keyboard

2) Piano Album 2005

Chronicling at the Keyboard

My current focus is a large, ongoing endeavor that I call “Chronicling at the Keyboard,” recital projects that feature my own pieces from piano albums I have compiled each calendar year since 1984 along with works by composers as diverse as Nicholas Strowgers, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Toru Takemitsu, Alban Berg, Stefan Wolpe, colleagues such as Robert Carl, Peter Child, David Cleary, Marti Epstein, Yehudi Wyner, and current and former students ... more

Piano Album 2005

Part of the project “Chronicling at the Keyboard“, the Album contains 67 pieces as outlined below.

1. Rough Practice Item (Composed January 6, 2005) (Duration ca. 1’10”)

            It can be a hard road to practice the piano, and this little piece is a short but rough ride for listener and pianist alike. It was composed on an airplane headed to San Francisco from Boston. (13.08.05)

2. Old English Sketchette After Strowgers (Composed January 10, 2005) (Duration ca. 1’45”)

            Composed on a few strains from Nicholas Strowgers’s Fantasia (ca. 1560-1575), this short sketch was written in about an hour during a California tour in January 2005. It is meant to function as a prelude to performances of the Strowgers piece, but can be played on its own as well ... more

Copyright © 2005 John D. McDonald. All rights reserved