The tape presented here contains five of the best-known pieces of ragtime music from Scott Joplin in arrangements for two experienced pianists. Whoever has played these pieces in the original form, that is two-handed, will quickly understand why an arrangement for four hands almost a ”must” is. The wild leaps with the left hand and the chain of accords with the right hand normally require an extremely competent pianist.

Using the form presented here amateurs can also attempt playing these pieces and have a lot of fun doing it. The arranger has to deal with the question, if the original music can or should merely be distributed over four hands, or whether he should use the melodious and technical possibilities, achieved through the use of four hands. With the exception of the “Solace” I have chosen the second way, so that the “secondo” is not permanently degraded to an “accord labourer”. An almost unbelievable musical magnificence, not possible using just two hands, can be achieved. Although this version leads to a frequent crossing of the inner hands, which may require a little practice, the result is the creation of a melodious and tempting exercise for the pianists . In the “Concordia” I placed the far more effective beginning at the end, as a result the modulation had to be changed from C-major to Es-minor.

I wish all my colleague musicians a lot of pleasure with a music that every classic lover, free –jazz fan, folk-music enthusiast or techno freak must treasure, when they do not in fact really love it.

September 2004 Christoph Busching

The book presented here contains four of the best-known pieces of ragtime music from Scott Joplin in arrangements for two experienced pianists. Whoever has played these pieces in the original form, that is two-handed, will quickly understand why an arrangement for four hands almost a ”must” is. The wild leaps with the left hand and the chain of accords with the right hand normally require an extremely competent pianist.

Using the form presented here, amateurs can also try their hand(s) at playing these pieces and have a lot of fun at the same time. The arranger has to deal with the question, if the original music can or should merely be distributed over four hands, or whether he should use the melodious and technical possibilities, which can be achieved by the use of four hands. I have chosen the second way, so that the “secondo” is not permanently degraded to just an “accord labourer”. Using this method an almost unbelievable musical magnificence, impossible for an arrangement for only two hands, can be achieved.. Although this leads to a frequent crossing of the inner hands, which may require a little practice, the result is the creation of a melodious and tempting exercise.

I wish all my colleague musicians a lot of pleasure with a music that every classic lover, free –jazz fan, folk-music enthusiast or techno freak must treasure it, or even fall in love with..

March 2004 Christoph Busching

The book presented here contains the three best-known ragtime melodies from Scott Joplin in new arrangements for two excellent pianists. Naturally it seems paradox that an arrangement for four hands should be more difficult than the original score for two hands. Here melodious magnificence, virtuosity and effect play the leading role. For a technically very experienced duo it would create immense pleasure to play these melodies and the success on stage is guaranteed.

I wish all my music colleagues great pleasure with this music, which is treasured , yes loved by pure classical music enthusiasts, free-jazz fans, music lovers and techno freaks alike.

March 2004 Christoph Busching

Program Notes

The piece was inspired by a modern Chinese painting, Emotional Ocean. Just as the artwork, the music displays numerous dramatic wave-like gestures
and contrasts are exhibited by means of extreme register and dynamics during the course of the piece. The music begins with subtle and cloudy context, and
materials are gradually developed and varied while accumulating and saturating in high density and register at the middle point of the piece. Preliminary elements recur after the climax and following these are aleatoric elements where pitches are randomly presented. Soon, abundances of wavy elements juxtapose together and surge near the end of the piece. Generally speaking, from large-scale perspective, the structure of the piece also resembles wave as climaxes occur alternatively at the middle and end of the piece, furthering refining the wavy shapes of the whole piece. Most importantly, numerous Chinese colours are involved in the piece and these fuse with post-tonal materials for forging my personal unique voice.

Duration: 5 minutes