Classycool Muses

Rhapsody for Utøya

A retro rhapsodic tribute to 77 wasted lives. I watched a T.V. report showing how this murderer is being given 5 star treatment and ‘human rights’ in the ‘prison’ prior to his trial. I wrote this music the same day (14th April 2012) There is no real anger in the music, (I don’t really do musical anger) but there is passion, sadness and frustration… but then it does contain joy in the hope of eternal justice and resurrection. The music does not in any way reflect the diabolical scenes on that day. (Mel Stallwood)

Guess who loves you…

Cindy's Card

It was Saturday morning February 11th (yesterday) and for once the postman arrived in the morning. I blearily checked through the mail and noticed that one of the dozens (only joking) of this year’s batch of Valentine cards was from ‘Cindy’. After excitedly reading Cindy’s letter, I placed the card on the piano and sat down for my morning doodle. Looking at the card with Cindy peering through the heart shaped cut-out, with the words ‘Guess who loves you’ eating at MY heart, I began to write my only tune so far this year…

Cindy is one the dogs we sponsor at the ‘Dogs Trust’ www.sponsoradog.org.uk since we lost our own dog.

Beautiful and tender piano music by Mel Stallwood accompanies Jane Carol’s poem ‘Just Waiting’ – the moving tribute to the life of Sharon Reid who died age 20 on the 4th August 1992

Eric Satie

Here’s a little tune that I’m not totally satie’s fied with. It is a perfectly lamentable effort called ‘Paul’s Lament’. On Satie-day Paul through out the challenge to write a Gymnopedie on the spot (or even a  Gnossienne), so here is the attempt. It took a few minutes to get the the tune and about four hours to muck around with the embellishments. It may be a while before it is Satie’s factory…