A Child’s Dream of Toys
Work Overview
Instrumentation: full orchestra; 2 (2nd doubl. Picc); 2-2-2; 4-3-3-1; Timp 3 perc; Harp; Piano; Strings
Commission: Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra
Premiere: January 30, 2019 as part of the WSO’s 2019 Winnipeg New Music Festival, conducted by Daniel Raiskin
Duration: c. 11 minutes
Program Note
Vivian Fung’s A Child’s Dream of Toys is inspired both by Fung’s three-year-old son and by an oil painting by Grant Maxwell, Fung’s late piano teacher from Edmonton, who passed away from a brain tumor in 1993, while Fung was still a student. The piece is fast-paced and virtuosic and moves along at a clip evoking a child’s seemingly unlimited energy. The piece is organized as a series of episodes—short sections that morph and change as often as a child’s moods. The softest section in the middle of the piece features a very short and somewhat hidden quote of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” but is bent out of shape with a sliding glissando that pulls the tune downwards in key. The title of the work is taken from Maxwell’s painting, which he gave to Fung shortly before his death and is a small abstract rendition of a child’s imagination in bright yellow and primary colors.
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