very appealing; wonderful; crazy within a certain discipline; a delight - Kate Ryder

Click here to read a conversation between Brian Inglis and Kate Ryder about the original 'Four Pieces for toy piano' and toy pianos. Part of a set of four, these pieces were commissioned by the pianist Kate Ryder and completed in February 2018. In ‘Laugh’ a poem by the Irish artist Derek Shiel (1939-2017) —inspired by Umberto Boccioni’s Futurist painting La Risata—is interjected between the instrumental figures, which are themselves derived from the poem’s words. ‘Water and Stone’ is notated with a graphic score and accompanied by an optional audio track (field recordings from Tbilisi and Mestia, Georgia, August 2017). Following the premiere of the complete set by Kate Ryder in 2018, the composer performed these two pieces alone as part of a lecture-recital at the festival Music as Play: The Toy Piano Takes The Stage in 2019. Pieces may also be performed separately. The original 'Four Pieces for toy piano' is discussed in Revista Vortex. Click here to read more. Videos from a performance by Brian Inglis of 'Four Pieces for toy piano' at the 3^rd Toy Music Festival, Seoul, South Korea 22nd December 2022: Water and Stone Laugh