Composer’s Note:

Safari Game Drive is inspired by my game-drive photo-safari through Kruger, Hwange and Chobe National Parks in southern Africa. It is an 8-part serenade composed for piano 4-hands. At the premiere we performed with a slide show of photographs of the animals, and augmented with visual expressions of each of the animal groupings created by artist Vaughn Clay. https://www.vaughnclay.com/ The first 3 parts (A-B-C) act as an exposition, 1-Dazzle Of Zebras consists of a series of expanding varied arches in quick tempo. 2-Crash Of Rhinos is a dialogue in slow tempo between the high and low voices. 3-Journey Of Giraffes divides the soundscape into three layers — lower, 4-part harmonization; middle, narrative melody; and upper, countermelody in quicker rhythmic sub-divisions. The work’s mid-section (D-E) consists of a slow tempo, dolce cantabile, 4-Ancient Baobab Tree; and a dance-like scherzo, 5-Troop of Baboons. The last 3 parts form a recapitulation where the exposition returns, now varied and in reverse order (C-B-A) — a metaphor of the animals’ transitory journey. 6-Pod Of Hippopotamuses, shaped from the material of Giraffes, now rewoven mosaic-like into an harmonic bridge. 7-Parade Of Elephants, an ostinato accompaniment rising through transpositions and increasing in volume, while the main line trumpets a sliding trunk in a two-voice canon. 8-Pride of Lions, a driving finale with lively syncopation and quickly changing meters referring to the Zebras of part one and even perhaps giving chase.