Variations on Amazing Grace
John Newell
About this work:
The Variations on Amazing Grace was first performed by Rorianne Schrade in July, 2003 at the Sevenars Concerts in Massachusetts.
Amazing Grace is obviously one of the great hymns, simple yet stirring - an incredibly powerful combination of notes and words. One reason, I think, for the power of the tune itself is that it is built on a pentatonic (five-note) scale - a fundamental scale found in music throughout the world.
The work begins with a very simple statement of the tune, officially known as New Britain (though I, at least, could never separate the tune from the lyrics). In Variation I a countermelody is added; this grows into another yet statement of the tune in Variation II, with denser, louder, more "gospel" - style textures. In III and IV we seem to have broken away entirely from the melody in ecstatic, soaring passages.
Variation V retains (in the bass) only a hint of the harmonies upon which the tune is built, with soft "cluster" chords floating above. The following variation is not really a variation at all, but a joyous little dance built over a syncopated rhythmic pattern in the bass. The tune breaks out into cascading scales that lead to the bell-like sonorities of Variation VII. What follows in VIII is a kind of celestial counterpoint of four distinct voices. In IX the tune finally returns, with soft countermelodies filling the musical space.
In Variation X, the pianist is instructed simply to play "like Chopin," which of course means reaching heaven (and inspired by his Etude, Op.25, No. 8). I would characterize XI as a passionate dialogue, even struggle of heavenly and earthly forces. All conflict ceases in the final variation, which finally settles to a quiet amen.
Year composed: 1998
Duration: 00:11:00
Ensemble type: Keyboard:Piano
Instrumentation: 1 Piano,1 Piano soloist(s)