CDLXXXI. HADDAD, Ed: Have You Met Lydia?

CDLXXXI. HADDAD, Ed (1968-       )

Have You Met Lydia? (2007)
Thomas Burritt, marimba
(3:59)

from: Intermediate Masterworks for Marimba

Haddad has composed music for theater, films, and television.

Have You Met Lydia? invites the listener to navigate an assortment of changing meters and tricky rhythms. It is not, however, an academic exercise; it is more like the capricious musings of a small child. Accordingly, the piece is in the form of a short story that is interrupted by several whimsical digressions. The Lydian mode, to which the piece faithfully adheres, is similar to the major scale, except that the fourth degree (fa) is raised one half step. It corresponds to the white keys on the piano (or the lower level of bars on the marimba) beginning and ending with the note F. More importantly, in At the Circus (1939), Groucho Marx sings the classic Lydia the Tattooed Lady (written by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg), a wonderfully clever tune whose complexity is at the service of its playfulness. Have You Met Lydia? is an homage that aspires to do the same. -- EH