Dunes

Petites vagues
Swim swim
Dune

This one garners the best possible recommendation I can give for any piece: I liked it so much that I learned it and performed it before writing this review! The three movements are titled "Petites vagues," "Swim-Swim;' and "Dune." The first two are marked attaca, and they don't really work as stand-alone efforts. Skill level is about Grade 6 overall. Demillac's music draws considerable inspiration from the sea; other suites by this composer (offered by the same publisher) are titled Marines, Rivages, Plages. The music here is very moody, ideal for the background music of a French film showing at Cannes. Highly melodic, well-fingered, clearly printed. The second movement is distantly reminiscent of the Moonlight Sonata, being an arpeggiated minor-key pattern in 12/8 pulse. The final movement has some not-quite automatic left-hand configurations to it, nothing difficult, but not exactly the notes or fingerings I instinctively grasped for. The only really odd part for me is the final chord, a six-string tambora of a Dmaj7 chord but with an open E/6 and A/5. For myself, I damp off those dissonant basses, because a fourstring chord is the exactly correct ending needed here.

David Norton (Soundboard Magazine)