Ivan Tcherepnin

Four Pieces from before

I. For Christmas - a real Christmas gift to the composer's parents dating 1958, by which the 15 year old obtained his famous father's recognition as a composer. II. A waltz with surprise modulations written in his father's composition class in 1959. III. Vernal Equinox (1961) containing a reference to the choral Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott. IV Riding Clouds (1962), a small rondo inspired by Lieh-Tzu: My mind concentrated and my body relaxed, bones and flesh fused completely, I did not notice that my body leaned against and my feet trod, I drifted with the wind East or West like a leaf from a tree or a dry husk, and never knew whether it was the wind that rode me or I that rode the wind.