Bon Accord Baths - 18th July 2026
f l o a t With Brodie McCash Concert Programme
Bon Accord Baths, Justice Mill Lane
Saturday 18th July 2026 6.00pm
Programme:
Prelude to a Little Spring - Takashi Yoshimatsu
Song Of The Seashore - Keiko Abe
One Summer’s Day - Joe Hisaishi
Nocturne in C# Minor - Frederic Chopin trans. B McCash
Over The Rainbow - Harold Arlen arr. Robert Oetomo
Prelude from Cello Suite No.1 in G Major - J.S. Bach
Étude for a Quiet Hall - Christopher Deane
f l o a t - Clara-Jane Maunder
Prelude To A Little Spring – Takashi Yoshimatsu
Prelude to a Little Spring is just one small movement from Yoshimatsu’s Pleiades Dances, a series of solo piano pieces. These pieces are “a newly conceived set of preludes for the modern piano which takes its material from the seven colours of the rainbow, the seven pitches of church modes, and seven metrical units from three to nine beats.”
Prelude to a Little Spring is the first piece in Pleiades Dances Vol. VI and taunts the emergence of Spring rather than the season in full bloom. This work is almost exclusively 2 part, but with simple harmonies and melodic lines, Yoshimatsu creates a feeling of light optimism and warmth.
Song Of The Seashore – Keiko Abe
Song of the Seashore is the first of 3 short piece in Abe’s set – Three Monologues. This is an arrangement of Tamezo Narita’s song Hamabe No Uta. Thisuse setting for marimba uses single-independent (one handed rolls) and simple accompanying lines to portrays the waves rolling and crashing lightly. This middle section cadenza uses a wider range of the instrument before returning to the light lilting feeling of the beginning.
This piece takes you on a lovely journey through a seaside trip.
One Summer’s Day – Joe Hisaishi
Written for Studio Ghibli’s film Spirited Away, One Summer’s Day is a piece that I feel captures the gentle innocence. With the initial theme recurring throughout there’s a feeling of nostalgia and longing, like that of the film itself.
Spirited Away was the first Studio Ghibli film I had seen, and is still one of my favourite today.
Nocturne in C# Minor – Frederic Chopin
Nocturne in C# Minor by Chopin was written in 1830 during the early stages of the composers career but was only published after his death(1849) in 1875. It was written for his old sister Ludwika with the dedication “For my sister Ludwika to practice before she takes on my second Concerto.” It was premiered in 1894 as part of a performance to unveil a monument of Chopin in his birthplace Zelazowa Wola.
Throughout the piece Chopin quotes fragments from his Piano Concerto No. 2.
This has been one of my favourite solo piano works to listen from since I was in high school, and I transcribed this for solo 5-octave marimba to perform at my third year recital at university. I’m pleased to be able to work and prepare this beautiful work once more.
Over The Rainbow – Harold Arlen arr. Robert Oetomo
This arrangement of Harold Arlen’s Over The Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz was created with the intention of having a combination of jazz influences (harmonies and quasi improvisation) and classical romantic influences (runs, ornaments and flourishes), yet maintaining the simplicity of the melody and harmony of the original song.
The original song was first recorded In 1938 by Judy Garland. It was then made famous from the release of the film, The Wizard of Oz in 1939.
Somewhere over the rainbow Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Way up high, Away above the chimney tops
There’s a land that I heard of That’s where you’ll find me.
Once in a lullaby.
Somewhere over the rainbow
Somewhere over the rainbow Bluebirds fly.
Skies are blue. Birds fley over the rainbow.
And the dreams that you dare to dream Why then, oh why can’t I?
Really do come true.
If happy little bluebirds fly
Someday I’ll wish upon a start Beyond the rainbow
And wake me up where the clouds are far Why, oh why can’t I?
Behind me.
- Lyrics by E.Y. Harburg
This arrangement received its world premiere performance by the arranger himself in December 2013 at St. Josef Kirche, Mannheim-Lindenhof, Germany.
Prelude from Cello Suite No.1 in G Major – J.S Bach
Bach’s Prelude from Cello Suite No. 1 in G major unfolds with a quiet sense of curiosity. Its steady stream of arpeggios feels almost like someone gently testing the resonance of the cello, or in this case the marimba. As the music grows, the pattern opens into broader, more expressive gestures, building to a spacious moment near the end.
What makes the Prelude so enduring is its clarity. There’s no ornament or drama — just pure music that shows how Bach could easily develop his works from the simplest idea.
Étude for a Quiet Hall – Christopher Deane
Etude for a Quiet Hall was one of Christopher Deane’s first compositions for the marimba. Chris was 19 years old when he wrote this work in 1982 while studying at the North Carolina School of the Arts. Etude for a Quiet Hall won first place in the Percussive Arts Society Composition Contest that same year.
This solo requires the player to achieve great independence between the mallets. Throughout the piece, the marimbist plays a long roll on one note with the inner 2 mallets, while the outer mallets play the melody and embellishments. This is a great work for solo marimba that should be studied by all intermediate to advanced players
f l o a t – Clara-Jane Maunder
I am floating in the middle of the ocean.
The brine bears my weight as I tread water, but I go nowhere.
I am surrounded by islands of my future, a multitude of eventualities. One day, I will begin swimming towards an island, and towards the next stage of my life.
But for now, I must wait; I must trust that my head will stay above water.
I must float, in this endless sea of possibilities.
f l o a t is a meditation on having to become comfortable with the feeling of waiting.
Post-masters, I have felt stuck as I sit between life stages. I feel like I can see versions of my future life laid out before me like islands, but I don’t know which one is mine, yet. Sometimes, no matter how hard we try to get things moving, life forces us to stop and wait; to see in which direction we should go, to which island we should swim.
There’s nothing to do except live with it. There is no sink or swim.
There is only f l o a t
Thank you to Brodie for commissioning and premiering this piece. How apt that we are in a swimming pool!