Shocked Awake (piano solo)

One word: Madness

I wrote this in 1991 just after I had moved in with my now-wife Carla. Thsi is one of the first things she heard me compose in my upstairs workspace. And she still married me!!!

It was commissioned by David Guerin, a sensitive poetic New Zealand pianist. I've never miscalculated quite as profoundly as I did in writing this for David. He very wisely never tried learning Shocked Awake, and it's never been performed. The only score I know of is now in the Turnbull Library hopefully with one of these signs on the folder:

I played the MIDI (below) in a concert during my first year teaching at Victoria University (in 1994). I've never generated so much giggling and tittering. The audience were in a high-level WTF state...... If you decide to listen, good luck.

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Resources

RESEARCHERS: EXPLORE SHOCKED AWAKE SOLO PIANO AT THE ALEXANDER TURNBULL LIBRARY