My understanding is that “postmodern” music is essentially eclectic, so that compositions may include any, or a mixture, of a range of styles, e.g. baroque, classical, romantic, or 20th century. Composers are free to adopt, or to modify, rules of harmony or structure to suit the work in hand. In a sense that has always been the case, although composers have inevitably been bound by what other musicians and audiences would accept at the time. All the pieces in this book of POSTMODERN PIECES have been composed in the 21st century, but some could have been produced in various past eras. The contents are:
Three Italian Pieces (op.10) Capriccio; Notturno; Romanza
Six Nocturnes (op.4)
Four National Dances (op.21) Tarantella (Italy); Rumba (Cuba); Hopak (Ukraine); Humppa (Finland)
John Paul Ekins played the Romanza at Sunderland in September 2023. Here is his live performance.
And here are some computer generated mp3 files. First, the Capriccio from op.10:
Nocturne no.4 in G:
An online performance of “Hopak” was given on 23rd November 2020, by the pianist Maria Marchant in her series “7 Notes in 7 Days at 7 p.m.” The recording of this is on Maria’s YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/JBRiHQODNrY I recorded a short introduction to the piece, which is at https://youtu.be/JoZe6MSw1tY
If you are a UK based pianist interested in having a complimentary copy of this book, please email me (see CONTACT page).