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Tycho, Tycho, Tycho is dedicated to my dear friend and mentor Maestro Tommy Tycho. Tommy has spent 60 years working in Australia as a composer, arranger, pianist and conductor. Not only is he one of the finest arrangers and orchestrators on the scene today but he is also a mentor and role model for hundreds of Australian musicians and students.
Tycho, Tycho, Tycho was inspired by the tune Tico, Tico and apart from the fact that it makes a fun little play on Tommy’s name, it is also very much how I perceive the great Maestro’s spirit to be.
The first theme carries within it the feel of the original Tico, Tico but the melody is of course completely different and much more difficult to perform at the recommended tempo. The student is advised to work through each difficult passage slowly and carefully by focusing on the threads of logical thought that bind them together.
It is important however not to allow the feel of the work to bog down or become too precise and sterile as there must always be an air of ease and fun throughout, even if you feel as though your fingers just dropped off of your hand. It should be performed at the liveliest tempo that the performer can manage and remember to shout as loud as you can in the Hey! at bar 103 and then come back in when you’re ready to.
Tycho, Tycho,Tycho is quite a challenge but it’s a lot of fun when you finally get it all together.
Enjoy!
Andy Firth
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Contents: Kingfishers, Forest Walk, Mountain Rain
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Contents: Bach Goes To The Bahamas, Geronimo's Groove, Gone Troppo!, Silly Samba
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Performed by Janet Webb
The Treacherous Tango was composed for principal flautist of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Janet Webb. In July 2002 I was invited to perform the Artie Shaw Concerto for Clarinet at the Sydney Opera House for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s “Swing in to spring” series. Whilst waiting in the wings backstage, Janet asked me if we could meet up for a talk sometime about jazz and Latin styles. A few weeks later after hearing Janet play, I began sketching “Treacherous Tango” for her wonderful CD “Tango and all that Jazz”.
The Treacherous Tango is in essence a cross-over piece in that it is never fully Latin, jazz or classical for any significant amount of time. The first section is a kind of “Bach goes Latin”. This then heats up a bit and changes in to an improvised solo section. The piano gradually drops out and leaves the soloist merrily grooving away over the feel. Realising that they are now completely venerable and on their own, the soloist becomes a little embarrassed and sheepishly fades out all the while tring to coax the piano back into the “game”. Finally the soloist gives up trying and instead, decides to launch in to a rollercoaster passage that the piano, (not wanting to be out done) effortlessly mimics but in octaves. Both then launch into a fiery Latin pattern that re-energizes the Latin feel once more.
The romantic section that follows, brings a little of “Spain” to the feel before both instruments frolic through a dual-time feel section that is a walking bass four feel in the left-hand of the piano against a turblent three feel in the solo part and right-hand of the piano. This culminates in both instruments swinging over a very short slow swing four-feel passage. The soloist then decides to try a bit of “improvisation” and takes-off over this feel once again. Shortly following this, the piano flies into a fiendishly difficult Latin styled solo with the soloist following closely behind.
After the soloist blazes its way through another “improvised” solo, the first and second themes return with vengeance and lead to a musical frenzy of furiously flying accelerando passages that end with a fluter tongued trill. Then with one final short argument and a rapid triplet outburst, it’s all over. Phew!
It’s quite a blow for anybody so when you do get to the end take time to praise yourself and your partner in crime at the piano for a great effort!
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The theme for this work is taken from Andy’s composition “Latin Sunset” that was written for his “Play clarinet with Andy Firth book 1”. The theme is stated and then as is traditional, undergoes a series of progressively more challenging settings: triplets, semi-quavers and so forth. There is a lovely slower section to calm the energy of the first series of variations before the soloist is sent in to overdrive once more for the last series of variations which culminate in a somewhat flashy written cadenza. The finale arrives and as expected the oboe is propelled into a series of arpeggios and rapid runs and patterns. This work is set at advanced level but an oboe soloist of 6/7th grade level should handle it well without too much trouble. In the 2nd variation after the main theme, see if you can spot Andy’s little musical quote...
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The Treacherous Tango was composed for principal flautist of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Janet Webb. In July 2002 I was invited to perform the Artie Shaw Concerto for Clarinet at the Sydney Opera House for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s “Swing in to spring” series. Whilst waiting in the wings backstage, Janet asked me if we could meet up for a talk sometime about jazz and Latin styles. A few weeks later after hearing Janet play, I began sketching “Treacherous Tango” for her wonderful CD “Tango and all that Jazz”.
The Treacherous Tango is in essence a cross-over piece in that it is never fully Latin, jazz or classical for any significant amount of time. The first section is a kind of “Bach goes Latin”. This then heats up a bit and changes in to an improvised solo section. The piano gradually drops out and leaves the soloist merrily grooving away over the feel. Realising that they are now completely venerable and on their own, the soloist becomes a little embarrassed and sheepishly fades out all the while tring to coax the piano back into the “game”. Finally the soloist gives up trying and instead, decides to launch in to a rollercoaster passage that the piano, (not wanting to be out done) effortlessly mimics but in octaves. Both then launch into a fiery Latin pattern that re-energizes the Latin feel once more.
The romantic section that follows, brings a little of “Spain” to the feel before both instruments frolic through a dual-time feel section that is a walking bass four feel in the left-hand of the piano against a turblent three feel in the solo part and right-hand of the piano. This culminates in both instruments swinging over a very short slow swing four-feel passage. The soloist then decides to try a bit of “improvisation” and takes-off over this feel once again. Shortly following this, the piano flies into a fiendishly difficult Latin styled solo with the soloist following closely behind.
After the soloist blazes its way through another “improvised” solo, the first and second themes return with vengeance and lead to a musical frenzy of furiously flying accelerando passages that end with a fluter tongued trill. Then with one final short argument and a rapid triplet outburst, it’s all over. Phew!
It’s quite a blow for anybody so when you do get to the end take time to praise yourself and your partner in crime at the piano for a great effort!
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