FROM MY BOOK OF MELODIES

Alma Deutscher Schirmer ISBN: 978-1-70513-098-8

This book contains all the pieces from an album (of the same title) Alma Deutscher released in 2019. Still only 17, her precocious gifts as a melody-maker are chronicled here, with each piece containing one of the melodies that she wrote down from each year of her life, from ages four to 14. Difficulty is around Grade 6 to 8. In this column I have occasionally bemoaned the shortage of melodies that leave a lasting impression, so how wonderful it is to discover a beautiful piece such as I Think of You, a work based on a poem by Goethe. It appears here in two versions – one in G flat major, and one in G major (for those averse to six flats) – rather like the dual versions of Schubert’s G flat major Impromptu (originally printed in G major by his publishers to make it easier for the player). There is more than a passing resemblance with the old master in other respects, in the style of some of the writing and a similar instinctive knack for refreshing harmonic changes. A composer to watch!