Gautango (2007)
for solo piano and gun (gunman ad lib)
Dedicated to Aryan Kaganof and Nicola Deane
Duration: c. 3 1/2 minutes
Publisher: Bardic Edition
Score published in Collected Shorter Piano Pieces Volume (2015) - Bardic Edition BDE 954. Score available separately as BDE 1023.
Available from Goodmusic Publishing
Première
Unperformed
Programme note
Gautango (Waltz-tango? Tango-waltz?) was part of the orginal score for Aryan Kaganof's cellphone movie SMS Sugar Man, but never found its way into the 2008 edit. As it would have been the 'love theme', I made a virtuoso piano transcription as a wedding gift for Kaganof and Nicola Deane. It occurred to me afterwards that in it there a cross-rhythmic waltz element which brings to mind the old song by Dick Manning and Al Hoffmann:
I can't tell a waltz from a tango
I never know what my feet are gonna do
Oh I can't tell a waltz from a tango
Darling when I dance with you.
Gautango should ideally be presented as music theatre with the pianist firing a shot, or being shot, before the final bars - a logical scenario for a Gauteng-inspired tango.
Staging
There are two options:
1. The performer may draw a gun (loaded only with blanks, and discreetly concealed on her/his person or inside the piano) in bar 91, and fire it into the air on the first beat of bar 92. The stage should be plunged into darkness immediately.
2. A 'gunman' (armed with a pistol loaded only with blanks, and discreetly concealed on her/his person) may approach the stage, walking stealthily down the aisle during the performance, arriving on stage at bar 91, and 'shooting' the pianist on the first beat of bar 92. The stage should be plunged into darkness immediately as the pianist collapses on the floor.
In both cases the last three bars are not played. The pianist may choose to wear appropriate evening dress for the performance (white tie and tails for men, spectacular gowns for women).
for solo piano and gun (gunman ad lib)
Dedicated to Aryan Kaganof and Nicola Deane
Duration: c. 3 1/2 minutes
Publisher: Bardic Edition
Score published in Collected Shorter Piano Pieces Volume (2015) - Bardic Edition BDE 954. Score available separately as BDE 1023.
Available from Goodmusic Publishing
Première
Unperformed
Programme note
Gautango (Waltz-tango? Tango-waltz?) was part of the orginal score for Aryan Kaganof's cellphone movie SMS Sugar Man, but never found its way into the 2008 edit. As it would have been the 'love theme', I made a virtuoso piano transcription as a wedding gift for Kaganof and Nicola Deane. It occurred to me afterwards that in it there a cross-rhythmic waltz element which brings to mind the old song by Dick Manning and Al Hoffmann:
I can't tell a waltz from a tango
I never know what my feet are gonna do
Oh I can't tell a waltz from a tango
Darling when I dance with you.
Gautango should ideally be presented as music theatre with the pianist firing a shot, or being shot, before the final bars - a logical scenario for a Gauteng-inspired tango.
Staging
There are two options:
1. The performer may draw a gun (loaded only with blanks, and discreetly concealed on her/his person or inside the piano) in bar 91, and fire it into the air on the first beat of bar 92. The stage should be plunged into darkness immediately.
2. A 'gunman' (armed with a pistol loaded only with blanks, and discreetly concealed on her/his person) may approach the stage, walking stealthily down the aisle during the performance, arriving on stage at bar 91, and 'shooting' the pianist on the first beat of bar 92. The stage should be plunged into darkness immediately as the pianist collapses on the floor.
In both cases the last three bars are not played. The pianist may choose to wear appropriate evening dress for the performance (white tie and tails for men, spectacular gowns for women).
