Seventh Must Fall (2016)
for solo piano
Afrikosmos Volume 4: No 7
Dedicated to Christine Lucia
Composed 21 January 2016, Cape Town
Publisher: Bardic Edition
Available from Goodmusic Publishing
Score BDE 1284 (Volume 4 Complete)
Duration: c. 3-4 minutes
Recording
Recorded by Renée Reznek on 'From My Beloved Country' (Prima Facie Records B06XSDDV5T, 2017)
Recorded by Daan Vandewalle on 'The Philosophy of Composition' (Wergo 73612, 2018)
Recorded by Antony Gray on 'Michael Blake: Afrikosmos’ (Divine Art DA 21374)
Première
First performance: 5 July 2016; Rosslyn Hill Chapel, London; Renée Reznek piano
Further performances: September 2019; Beethoven Room, Grahamstown; Michael Blake piano (South African première);
21 August 2021; Le Genesteix Concerts, Azat-le-Ris, France; Antony Gray piano (French premiere);
22 September 2022; Chisholm Recital Room, Cape Town; Antony Gray piano;
21 June 2023; Goldsmiths College London; Antony Gray piano (UK première)
Programme note
Seventh Must Fall was a response to the 'RhodesMustFall' and 'FeesMustFall' student protest campaigns in South Africa during 2015-16, written while visiting Cape Town during the height of the protests. Musically it challenges the rule of common practice harmony in which the seventh note of the scale regularly rises to the tonic – all the sevenths in this piece do fall - while marking out a reflective space into which one can retreat in an often volatile world. The lower line may be heard as an example of Xhosa 'cabela'.
for solo piano
Afrikosmos Volume 4: No 7
Dedicated to Christine Lucia
Composed 21 January 2016, Cape Town
Publisher: Bardic Edition
Available from Goodmusic Publishing
Score BDE 1284 (Volume 4 Complete)
Duration: c. 3-4 minutes
Recording
Recorded by Renée Reznek on 'From My Beloved Country' (Prima Facie Records B06XSDDV5T, 2017)
Recorded by Daan Vandewalle on 'The Philosophy of Composition' (Wergo 73612, 2018)
Recorded by Antony Gray on 'Michael Blake: Afrikosmos’ (Divine Art DA 21374)
Première
First performance: 5 July 2016; Rosslyn Hill Chapel, London; Renée Reznek piano
Further performances: September 2019; Beethoven Room, Grahamstown; Michael Blake piano (South African première);
21 August 2021; Le Genesteix Concerts, Azat-le-Ris, France; Antony Gray piano (French premiere);
22 September 2022; Chisholm Recital Room, Cape Town; Antony Gray piano;
21 June 2023; Goldsmiths College London; Antony Gray piano (UK première)
Programme note
Seventh Must Fall was a response to the 'RhodesMustFall' and 'FeesMustFall' student protest campaigns in South Africa during 2015-16, written while visiting Cape Town during the height of the protests. Musically it challenges the rule of common practice harmony in which the seventh note of the scale regularly rises to the tonic – all the sevenths in this piece do fall - while marking out a reflective space into which one can retreat in an often volatile world. The lower line may be heard as an example of Xhosa 'cabela'.
