Otaka, Atsutada : Piano Pieces for Children: Land of Fairy Tales
Work Overview
First Publisher：音楽之友社
Instrumentation：Piano Solo
Genre：Various works
Copyright：Under Copyright Protection
Commentary (1)
Author : Sugiura, Nanako
Last Updated: February 8, 2024
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Author : Sugiura, Nanako
These are 27 short pieces written for serialization in the monthly magazine Musica Nova, published by Ongaku no Tomo Sha in 1995.
As stated in the preface to the score, "The content was written with an image of a fantastical fairy tale world created through sound, focusing on familiar sounds and motifs." Therefore, it is best performed as if reading a fairy tale, expanding one's imagination and depicting a story through music. The range of difficulty is somewhat broad; the first half is suitable for beginners, approximately at the level of early Burgmüller, while the difficulty significantly increases in the latter half, suitable for intermediate players and above. Otaka's playfulness can be glimpsed in pieces written with contrapuntal techniques such as "1. A Story," "13. The Little Philosopher," "14. Rondo of the Beetle," and "16. Time for Ensemble Playing," as well as in "4. The Little Raccoon Dog's Drum," which features the melody of Handel's "The Harmonious Blacksmith" in its middle section, and "24. A Busy Day," which incorporates Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" in its middle section. Furthermore, "22. A Mischievous Child's Dream" is adorned with harmonies characteristic of Atsutada Otaka, and there are very similar passages in his posthumous work "Nocturne," which was premiered by Kazune Shimizu in 2020 and subsequently published. "27. Sonatina" is said to be a piece submitted by the composer during his first year at Tokyo University of the Arts, which he left untouched due to dissatisfaction with the second theme, and then revised more than 30 years later.Reference: CD 'Children's Piano Pieces: Fairy Tale Land, Piano Duet Pieces: A Journey of Sound' by Etsuko Niwa (piano) and Atsutada Otaka (piano/composer), booklet.
The year 1995, when this collection was published, marked the 20th anniversary of the passing of the composer's mother, pianist Setsuko Otaka, and thus the collection is dedicated to her. In "12. Mother's Story," the composer's longing for his mother seems to emerge with a melancholic melody.
