song (no. 2 of four piano pieces)

The score of song for solo piano, second of Reddy’s four piano pieces, has survived in three versions: an autograph of the whole piece dated July 1982 and dedicated ‘to my darling Keith’ – Keith Burston, Reddy’s close friend at the Royal College of Music; a photocopy of an original autograph of the first 13 bars; and another autograph without the dedication. Judging from the dried sellotape at the corners of this last version it was pasted into one of the performing books Reddy often played from during these years. The ‘Keith Burston’ version is a fair copy of four pages, the last dated July 1982, and is used for this performing edition. It has ‘short cut’ notation because it is doubtful anyone but Reddy himself would have played it, and the way these are indicated foreshadows passages in Reddy’s later piano works where the soloist is expected to improvise. The performance by Reddy shown below was recorded at the University of Zululand in 1982.