Keyboard Classics for Children by Roy Eaton

Some specific children that inspired the composers performed on this CD are the daughters of Debussy and Benny Golson, the many children of Bach, and last , but definitely not least, my twin sons, now 4 ½ years old, Ravi and Ari. By the way, the cover illustrations were done by them when they were 2 years old. They have reopened the world for rediscovery for me. I hope this album will do the same for you and other big and little children everywhere.

Roy Eaton 10/16/2006

ALBUM NOTES

BACH: Prelude and Fugue in C Major. This work, first published in 1722, is one of 48 similar works in the Well Tempered Clavichord collection written by Bach as an instructional piece for his children. Not only has it served this purpose for generations of musicians, young and old, but the Prelude also inspired Gounod to compose his famous Ave Maria using it as the accompaniment.

1778 was one of the most tragic years for Mozart. Not only was his trip to Mannheim and Paris to seek employment with wealthy patrons a failure, but more traumatic personally, his mother died. He never expressed it directly, but perhaps the latter event inspired him to write variations based on a popular French Nursery rhyme that he could have heard as a child-- Ah vous dirai-je Maman known also by the title Twinkle Twinkle little star.

Suzanne Ciani commissioned me to write A Childs Xmas for the album A Very Green Xmas that she released on her Seventh Wave label in 1997. I hope it reminds you of every beautiful Xmas experience you had as a child and with children (particularly Xmas day!!)

Debussy, out of his profound love for his only daughter wrote and dedicated the Childrens Corner Suite -To my beloved little Chouchou, with the tender excuses of her father for that which follows. What follows is a glorious realization of imaginative children at play. To 5 year old Choucho, Jimbo is a real elephant resisting sleep just like she does. Of course, her favorite doll deserves her own Serenade. Golliwog, the little black doll created by Florence Upton in 1895 was also a favorite of Chouchou. Of course he would dance the Cakewalk invented by Negro slaves in America, and popularized by the Rags of Scott Joplin. Already, in 1899 his Maple Leaf Rag was a worldwide sensation. This was the Debussy interpretation of Ragtime.

Octavio Pinto, --March, Little Soldier is the most popular of a set of 5 pieces for children that he wrote in 1932.

Schumann best characterizes his Kinderscenen or Scenes from Childhood in his own words. In a letter to Clara Wieck, his bride to be, dated March 1838 he wrote:

I have found out that nothing sharpens the imagination so much as to be expecting and longing for something, and this has been my case for the last few days. I have been waiting for your letter, and consequently have composed book-fulls of things – wonderful, crazy, and solemn stuff; you will open your eyes when you come to play it. In fact, sometimes I feel simply bursting with music. But before I forget it, let me tell you what else I have composed. Whether it was an echo of what you said to me once, that sometimes I seemed like a child, anyhow, I suddenly got an inspiration , and knocked off about thirty quaint little things, from which I have selected twelve, and called them Kinderscenen. They have such titles as Frightening, Blind Mans Buff, About Strange Lands and People, At the Fireside, the Knight of the Rocking Horse, Curious Story, Pleading Child etc. and I don’t know what besides. Well, they all explain themselves, and what’s more are as easy as possible.

Easy? No, I disagree. To truly recapture the spirit of childhood requires a leap of faith into another dimension of being. My inspiration to attempt this leap was the birth of my twin sons Ravi and Ari on March 10, 2002. Even though I have three other wonderful sons now in their 40s (Christopher, Daniel and David), becoming a father again at age 72 was an unexpected entry into a whole new world of exuberance, joy, surprise, discovery, spiritual rejuvenation,and unconditional love.

What child does not love the Entertainer by Scott Joplin? Even though it was not composed just for children, I included it because Ari and Ravi love it so much

The final composition is somewhat surprising. Benny Golson is actually best known as one of the most prolific Jazz composers and performers. He wrote this beautiful lullaby The Baby Sleeps on May 14, 1999 remembering the childhood of his daughter. As the dedication reads -Reflectively dedicated to my daughter, Brielle…when she was a mere baby…sleeping the peaceful sleep of babies.

A fitting conclusion to this album in praise of the child in all of us.

Roy Eaton

New York, November 10,2006

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