The Merry Guide version for piano
1: The Wind of Morning
2: Kind Looks and Laughter
3: The Solitude of Shepherds
4: Realms of Woodland
5: The Drift of Blossoms
6: The Fluttering Region
Duration: 10:00
Date of Composition: 1961
PROGRAM NOTES: These little piano pieces stem from an Anglo-American sentiment that was virtually obliterated by the first world war, a childlike innocence, a nostalgia for home and countryside so beloved and protected by the Victorians. This sentiment was clearly felt by the pianist Yvar Mikhashoff who interlaced the music with selections from A. E. Housman’s A Shropshire Lad and arranged the combination for small orchestra and narrator. The piano pieces are here published with the poems, resulting in a true period piece for the amateur pianist.
-James Sellars