Program Note from the composer

Mystery Rag (1989) is a melange of Mahler’s symphonies (in particular, his Symphony No. 6) and piano ragtime.

In Elegiac Rag (1989) the melodies are influenced by a Bach chorale (In Thee is Joy) and it concludes with a transcription of a Welsh hymn tune, O Fryniau Caersalem (“From Salem’s Hills Yonder in Glory’) originally sung by Pedwarawd Wilkes-Barre, a Welsh choir from Pennsylvania in the 1920s. It appeared on a 1985 Morning Star Records release entitled You Can Tell The World About This.

The last piece in this tryptich, Transylvanian Tickler (1990) is a shameless pastiche of Bartok in ragtime.