Chanson Minimale

	Edward Harper: Chanson Minimale (Variations on a Theme by Elgar)
		Scoring:2 fl, 2 ob, 2 cl, 2 bsn, 2 hn, 2 tpt, 2 tbn, timp, b drum, clashed cymb (opt), strings
		Duration: 6 minutes
		The composer writes: "What kind of music would Elgar have written has he been alive in the 1960s and holidayed in America before retiring to a flat above a discotheque in Worcester? This piece does not attempt a definitive answer to this question, but it does attempt to reflect American/British co-operation which led to the first performance. Most of the piece is sparked off by the driving rhythms and slowly changing patterns and colours of the American minimalists. Sometimes when listening to this kind of music I yearn for more sustained melodic growth and for this occasion I have borrowed Elgar's wonderfully fresh and spontaneous 'Chanson de Matin'. This provides the material for the whole piece and appears at the end, as though heard in a dream."
		Selected recording: Label: Louisville Orchestra First Edition Records Catalogue Number: LS758 Released: 1976 (LP only)