Thelma’s Country Garden

The assignment: write an arrangement of Percy Grainger’s “Country Gardens” to commemorate the 88th birthday of Thelma Hunter, marvelous Grand Dame of Twin City Piano. Well, in 1918 Percy Grainger made a piano arrangement of the traditional “Country Gardens” tune as a birthday gift for his mother, so the assignment was really to make an arrangement of an arrangement… I found it interesting that Grainger reversed the order of the three themes as they originally appeared in Cecil J. Sharp’s collection of Morris Dances, published in several volumes early in the 20th century. Could I juggle even smaller elements of his arrangement to arrive at something that sounded a lot like Grainger, but…? The Grainger score has several wonderfully unique notations: The lower voice [countermelody] of the right hand slightly louder than the top voice; violently, in reference to a few descending notes buried in the left-hand texture; violently wrenched, referring to arpeggiated chords using every finger of the left hand, and finally, fist, indicating that the player should not use just one finger. (This only works on the black keys!) I have made use of all these secondary ideas, plus motives from the tunes themselves, occasionally off-set rhythmically. Also a nod to Grainger’s “The Immovable Do” and, for some reason, a fleeting reference to Beethoven… Why the title? Perhaps to conflate Percy Grainger’s well-known love of outdoor life and passion for physical activity with the many photos of Thelma on the ski slopes, wearing a Western hat, riding a strange-looking bicycle… Happy Birthday, Thelma!