Ken Murray : Shanghai : DOz

Ken Murray

Les Productions D’Oz: 8 pages

Ken Murray’s compositions are many and varied and his guitar work as a performer and recording artist are superb and second to none. So a new piece from him is always something to look forward to.

In spite of the cover photo of Shanghai, the piece itself is based on the Australian slang for as slingshot, and therefore the music does not have any oriental sounds to it!  

Set in A Major with a Dropped D 6^th its Con Spirito marking tells you that this is not going to be easy by any means. The rhythms are many and constantly varied so one finds oneself on the move from the opening .The melody and style is friendly throughout and although you are flying around on the fingerboard there is no dissonance or atonal factor anywhere, but many chords that are always on the move. Halfway through there is a Meno Mosso where the pace relaxes for a little more than 40 bars, after which the opening style returns and much of what you then see is a repeat. At the coda there is an accelerando and a final race up and down the fingerboard on an A Major arpeggio and a last chord of an altered A Major chord.

Ken Murray’s pieces are always worth playing, and this one is no exception. No, it is far from easy and you have to be a decent player to get it to sound like it should, but having said that it is extremely enjoyable and I can see it being a very popular piece with players.

Chris Dumigan