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| This work is made entirely from the noises, babble, and other sounds made by a one month-old baby and one of his toys. The sounds are electronically processed, taken apart, and re-assembled in various ways. In some cases the alterations are as simple as playing a sound 24X slower than the original. In other cases, one sound (the crying baby) is used to shape the contour of a different sound (the music box of his favorite toy elephant). The melodies (such as they are!) are all made from the musical letters of the baby's name; the title ("A Hard n-Neat Joy") is an anagram of his name. Compare the resulting sounds to those in "Earthquake Fugue"--the similarities are startling! |
MP3.com CD: Music of the Human Genome -  buy it!
MP3.com CD: Music of Brent Hugh - buy it!
Credits: Brent Hugh, recording and CSound realization |
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| These haunting "gene melodies" come from deep within you--do you recognize them? The Human Genome Project has recently completed the sequence of the entire human genome. Every note of this piece was generated directly from this Human Genome data. I processed the genome sequences using special software I wrote to convert the sequences directly into melodies and rhythms. Then I combined the several genome melodies using an ordinary music sequencer. "Music from the Human Genome" uses music from chromosomes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 22. For best effect, listen to the Hi-Fi version with headphones (the Lo-Fi version is OK, but you will hear more details and more "space" in the Hi-Fi version). The genome was there long before you were, and it will be there long after you are gone. So don't expect it to take you anywhere very fast--but listen a while and you might find that, at it's own glacial pace, this music takes you somewhere you've never been before. For more details and ideas about what to listen for, click on "Song Story" above. (Version 1.9) |
MP3.com CD: Music of the Human Genome - buy it!
MP3.com CD: Music of Brent Hugh - buy it!
Credits: The Human Genome Project, Brent Hugh |
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| Earthquake Fugue (a SoundScape for Six Elephants, Two Rhinoceroses, and Solo Brontosaurus). "Earthquake Fugue" is made entirely of actual earthquake data as recorded by seismographs and underwater hydrophones by the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration. The earthquake sounds were speeded up (to bring them into the human hearing range) and processed electronically and combined in a variety of ways to make "Earthquake Fugue". [March 2000; DDD] |
MP3.com CD: Music of the Human Genome - buy it!
MP3.com CD: Music of Brent Hugh - buy it!
Credits: Mother Earth; NOAA VENTS Acoustics Monitoring Program; U.S. Geological Survey; Brent Hugh |
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| Claude Debussy's most famous work for classical piano, from his Suite Bergamasque. This is the authentic version, as Debussy wrote it,not re-arranged or "improved" in any way.The title means "The Light of the Moon". If you like "Clair de lune," you might also try "The Girl with the Flaxen Hair", a similar work by the same composer. |
MP3.com CD: Piano Potpourri - buy it!
MP3.com CD: Fantastic Rhapsodies - buy it!
CD: Fantastic Rhapsodies
Label: BBJ Sound
Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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| Ludwig van Beethoven's sonata was revolutionary in his time and ours. In place of the usual brisk and lively first sonata movement, Beethoven offered this reflective gem in an improvisatory style. Recorded 8 February 2001, St. Joseph, MO, Steinway "D" 9-foot concert grand piano [DDD] |
MP3.com CD: Piano Potpourri - buy it!
Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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| "Des pas sur la neige" from Debussy's Preludes,
Book I. This is a beautiful and contemplative
prelude with an immediately recognizable two-note
ostinato that some have identified as the sound
of the footprints falling in the snow. The
prelude has a feeling of reminiscence--thoughts
of wonderful days, but days that have gone by
and can never be recaptured.
This recording is from a live performance.
An MP3.COM "Song of the Day". |
CD: Fantastic Rhapsodies
Label: BBJ Sound
Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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| FÜR ELISE is a Beethoven favorite and one that my audience members request more often than about any other. Recorded 8 February 2001, St. Joseph, Missouri, 9-foot Steinway "D" concert grand [DDD] |
MP3.com CD: Piano Potpourri - buy it!
Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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| FRACTAL VARIATIONS is a work for piano based on the mathematical idea of "fractals". A fractal is a special and fascinating kind of geometrical shape, and that shape inspired the musical shape of FRACTAL VARIATIONS. The piece is a brilliant, toccata-like work. This recording was made live in concert at the WYO Theater, September 1991. |
MP3.com CD: Piano Potpourri - buy it!
MP3.com CD: Music of the Human Genome - buy it!
MP3.com CD: Music of Brent Hugh - buy it!
Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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| Sonatina in Three Styles, by Brent Hugh. The Sonatina is a fun-to-play piece of intermediate difficulty. The first movement is in Jazz style, complete with a lengthy improvisatory section. The second movement is a Bartok-like dirge or sad song. The third movement is a lively, joking Scherzo in neo-classical style. This version was recorded live in concert, Billings, Montana, 1992. |
MP3.com CD: Piano Potpourri - buy it!
MP3.com CD: Music of the Human Genome - buy it!
MP3.com CD: Music of Brent Hugh - buy it!
Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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| This melodious sonata of Beethoven is one of his lesser-known works, but really is a small gem. Give it a listen! [ADD] |
MP3.com CD: Piano Potpourri - buy it!
CD: Brent Hugh in Recital
Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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| From Preludes, Book I. After a poem by French
poet Leconte de Lisle, about a girl with
(you guessed it) flaxen hair who sang to herself
in a field of clover with lips of cherry red.
A Debussy favorite. "Pick Hit of the Day" at
AMP3.COM. |
MP3.com CD: Piano Potpourri - buy it!
MP3.com CD: Fantastic Rhapsodies - buy it!
CD: Fantastic Rhapsodies
Label: BBJ Sound
Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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| The Engulfed Cathedral by Claude Debussy paints a vivid
picture in sound. The Cathedral in question, located on the
isle of Ys, was sunk under the ocean to punish its evil inhabitants.
Once every hundred years the ghostly Cathedral rises again, then
slowly sinks back into oblivion--a warning to those all those who see it.
Debussy's musical version of this legend mixes medieval
chants and impressionistic harmonies to create a memorable effect. |
MP3.com CD: Piano Potpourri - buy it!
MP3.com CD: Fantastic Rhapsodies - buy it!
CD: Fantastic Rhapsodies
Label: BBJ Sound
Credits: Brent Hugh, Piano |
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| A work that helped make Prokofiev's international reputation as a composer, the Suggestions diabolique takes as its subject the legendary midnight chase, half nightmare and half reality, in which the devil himself is the quarry. From Prokofiev's Four Pieces, Op. 4. |
MP3.com CD: Piano Potpourri - buy it!
CD: Brent Hugh In Recital
Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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| A romantic-style prelude by Russian composer Alexander Scriabin, written entirely for the left hand. An amazing and beautiful piece of music. |
MP3.com CD: Piano Potpourri - buy it!
CD: Brent Hugh In Recital
Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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| This beautiful and expressive nocturne really is for the left hand only. The first time I heard this I about fell off my chair (a teacher played a recording of it, only at the end of the recording revealing that only one hand had been playing) and I knew immediately that this was a piece I just had to learn . . . |
MP3.com CD: Piano Potpourri - buy it!
CD: Brent Hugh In Recital
Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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| This prelude has a beautiful melody in the bass accompanied by an expressive chord progression in the treble. It seems to be close relative of Chopin's "Cello" Etude. Recorded live in concert, March 2000, Kansas City, Missouri, 9-foot Steinway Concert Grand [DDD] |
MP3.com CD: My Favorite Chopin - buy it!
Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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| This melodic and expressive Prelude is a favorite of piano students. In the movie about Chopin, "A Song to Remember", this Prelude is played as Chopin's coffin is driven through the streets. Whether by premonition or simply accident (you be the judge!), this prelude certainly does capture the melancholy pathos of that moment, yet with an underlying glimmer of hope and even joy amid despair. Recorded live in concert, Kansas City, Missouri, March 2000. [DDD] |
MP3.com CD: My Favorite Chopin - buy it!
Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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| Of all the Chopin Preludes, this is my personal favorite. It is intense, exciting, gripping, and filled with wonderful harmonic colors and dynamic contrasts. From a live performance in Kansas City, March 2000. |
MP3.com CD: My Favorite Chopin - buy it!
Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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| This brief prelude is one of Chopin's finest and most innovative works. On paper it is nothing but a chord progression of 12 measures length. In our minds and in our hearts, it becomes something much, much more.It is one of Chopin's most famous and often-heard works and listeners of a certain age will know this piece because Barry Manilow "borrowed" it in one of his biggest hits ("Could It Be Magic"). From a live recording in Kansas City, March, 2000. [DDD] |
MP3.com CD: Piano Potpourri - buy it!
MP3.com CD: My Favorite Chopin - buy it!
Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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| Chopin's Prelude in A major is a piece that pianists love to play. Weighing in at only 47 seconds long, it is one of Chopin's shortest pieces--but also one of his sweetest.Recorded during a live performance, March 2000, Kansas City, Missouri, 9-foot Steinway Concert Grand [DDD] |
MP3.com CD: My Favorite Chopin - buy it!
Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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| One of the most beautiful of Chopin's set of 24 Preludes, this work features lush harmonies and an expressive and touching melody. According to one tradition, the extended Ab pedal point near the end (about the last 1:40 of this recording) duplicates the sound of a grandfather clock striking the hour of eleven. One of my personal favorites of the Preludes! Unedited recording from a live performance, Kansas City, Missouri, March 2000. |
MP3.com CD: My Favorite Chopin - buy it!
Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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| A brief and evocative prelude by Chopin. From a live performance, 16 March 2000. |
MP3.com CD: My Favorite Chopin - buy it!
Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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| A little gem from the pen of Chopin.
Famously played by Horowitz (among other
times) in his last series of recitals and
recordings. Recorded at a live performance,
April 1994. |
MP3.com CD: My Favorite Chopin - buy it!
CD: Brent Hugh Unplugged
Label: BBJ Sound
Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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| A charming mazurka by Chopin. In some places, this
mazurka sounds almost by a waltz, but a close
listen will reveal the rhythmic characteristics
and shimmering harmonies characteristic of
Chopin's Mazurkas. |
MP3.com CD: My Favorite Chopin - buy it!
CD: Piano Favorites
Label: BBJ Sound
Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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| The mazurka was a well-known Polish dance,
and for Chopin, born and educated in Poland,
writing Mazurkas was an intense expression
of his patriotism and love for his homeland.
This Mazurka in A minor is probably the
best known of all of Chopin's Mazurkas. |
MP3.com CD: My Favorite Chopin - buy it!
CD: Brent Hugh Unplugged
Label: BBJ Sound
Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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| One of Chopin's most beautiful melodies. From a
live performance. |
MP3.com CD: My Favorite Chopin - buy it!
CD: Brent Hugh Unplugged
Label: BBJ Sound
Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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| From Debussy's Estampes. Inspiredby the exotic Gamelan music of Java and otheroriental music, Pagodes weaves these orientalmelodies and textures together with Debussy'strademark impressionism. Some say this is themost typical of Debussy's impressionistic works. |
MP3.com CD: Piano Potpourri - buy it!
MP3.com CD: Fantastic Rhapsodies - buy it!
CD: Fantastic Rhapsodies
Label: BBJ Sound
Credits: Brent Hugh, Piano |
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| A wonderfully humorous character sketch of a
frustrated lover from Preludes Book I. This piece
tells the story of a Spanish guitarist
trying to serenade his girl. Every time
he starts to warm up and get those romantic
juices flowing, he's interrupted by something--drunken
passers-by jeering him, a beer bottle thrown from a nearby window,
and so on. Finally he just gives up and wanders off
down the street in search of greener pastures, playing his guitar all the way. |
MP3.com CD: Fantastic Rhapsodies - buy it!
CD: Fantastic Rhapsodies
Label: BBJ Sound
Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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| From Debussy's Etudes. This evocative work takes as its subject the different sounds and sonorities that can be produced by the piano. Fascinating listening, and ground-breaking composing by the master of impressionism. |
MP3.com CD: Fantastic Rhapsodies - buy it!
CD: Fantastic Rhapsodies
Label: BBJ Sound
Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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| Towards the end of his life,
Debussy wrote a set of piano etudes reflecting
his idiosyncratic ideas about piano technique
and sound. The Chromatic Etude is based on the
idea of playing closely spaced notes within
the chromatic scale. Of course, this isn't just
a technical exercise--it's a wonderful
piece showing the wide range impressionistic
colors and textures Debussy is so famous for.
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MP3.com CD: Fantastic Rhapsodies - buy it!
CD: Fantastic Rhapsodies
Label: BBJ Sound
Credits: Brent Hugh, Piano |
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| by Claude Debussy |
MP3.com CD: Fantastic Rhapsodies - buy it!
CD: Fantastic Rhapsodies
Label: BBJ Sound
Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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| from Images II by Claude Debussy |
MP3.com CD: Fantastic Rhapsodies - buy it!
CD: Fantastic Rhapsodies
Label: BBJ Sound
Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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| And the Moon Descended over the Ruined
Temple, from Images II by Claude Debussy |
MP3.com CD: Fantastic Rhapsodies - buy it!
CD: Fantastic Rhapsodies
Label: BBJ Sound
Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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| From Debussy's Images II for piano, Goldfish wasinspired by a Japanese print, owned by Debussy,showing two Goldfish (this print is shownon the cover of the Fantastic Rhapsodies CD). Many listenershear a certain oriental influence amid theflurry of scales and fins . . . |
MP3.com CD: Fantastic Rhapsodies - buy it!
CD: Fantastic Rhapsodies
Label: BBJ Sound
Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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| Debussy's Prelude from Pour le piano is one of his most exciting pieces--continuous rhythmic activitybuilds to a huge climax. Like a Bach organ toccata written with impressionistic color and harmony . . . |
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Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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| Even dour old classical pianists are allowed to have a little Christmas fun now and then, aren't they? This version of the Christmas favorite is more or less (in)exactly as it appeared in a Victorian-era Christmas songbook. |
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Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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| Ludwig van Beethoven's sonata was revolutionary in his time and ours. In place of the usual brisk and lively first sonata movement, Beethoven offered this reflective gem in an improvisatory style. Recorded 7 February 2001, St. Joseph, MO, Steinway "D" 9-foot concert grand piano [DDD] |
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Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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| This work written "For Elise" may be Beethoven's best-known work for piano. Recorded 7 February 2001, St. Joseph, Missouri, 9-foot Steinway "D" concert grand [DDD] |
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Credits: Brent Hugh, piano |
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