Keyboard Conversations

American pianist Jeffrey Siegel explores and performs a host of beguiling pieces, some inspired by fantastical tales, others a reflection on childhood. He briefly introduces each work before playing the composition in its entirety and then offers a brief time for questions and answers. At 11am, he begins with 'Music for the Young and Young at Heart', playing Mozart's Variations on 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'; Rimsky Korsakov's'Flight of the Bumblebee'; Alec Templeton's 'Mr Bach Goes to Town'; Bartók's 'Diary of a Fly'; Kabalevsky's 'Galloping Comedians'; Copland's 'Cat and the Mouse'; Stravinsky's 'Circus Polka (the dancing Elephant)' and more. Then, at 12.15pm, Siegel returns to present 'Great Composers View Childhood'. Several great composers have written music for children, as well as compositions reflecting on their own childhood. This programme includes the enchanting 'Serenade for the Doll', and the humorous 'Golliwog's Cake Walk' from the 'Children's Corner Suite' of Claude Debussy (whose 150th birthday we celebrate this year). From Robert Schumann's 'Album for the Young', pieces written for his own children, the buoyant 'Merry Peasant', as well as the beloved 'Dreaming' from his 'Scenes from Childhood'. Plus, compositions for young ears by Bach, Prokofiev, Grieg, and Nielsen. (Suitable for ages six to 106.)