Theme and Variations / Etude for solo piano based upon “Caravan.” A Clockwork Caravan
This is a set of theme and variations based upon the Duke Ellington / Juan Tizol jazz standard “Caravan,” performed by Yin Hao. At the time he performed this he was an exchange piano / composition student alongside me at UMKC. He didn’t know until the day before this performance that the theme was a jazz standard.
Here’s a tip - never use a jazz standard as a theme. Both Alfred Music AND Mills music wanted to bilk me for $200 to each one of them just to allow performances of this piece, and, I had to put on the music that my piece was an arrangement of “Caravan.” This is no more an arrangement than Rachmaninov’s variations of a theme by Paganini is simply an arrangement of that classic violin solo.
Performances of this will resume in 2032 when Caravan goes in the public domain, and I intend on releasing this score for free at that time as well.
In this piece, each variation is intended to musically illustrate a scene, character, item or incident in either the book or movie “A Clockwork Orange,” hence the title.