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Purchase
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Details
Refraction No. 4: “What a Wonderful World” by Greg Anderson, based on What a Wonderful World by Bob Thiele & George David Weiss / One piano, four hands / Full score / Difficulty: Advanced / Duration: 3 mins / Pages: 7 / Copyright: 2015 / Work number: 077 / Appears on the album Mother / Spotify/ Apple Music
Program Notes
Refraction No. 4: “What a Wonderful World” reimagines Louis Armstrong’s beloved 1967 song as an intimate four-hand fantasy for a single piano. The choice of instrumentation is central to the arrangement: two pianists share one keyboard, their hands crossing and intertwining in a musical counterpart to the song’s affectionate vision of human connection.
Inspired in part by Sergei Rachmaninoff’s piano arrangemnet of his song “Lilacs,” the setting surrounds the familiar melody with lush harmonic turns, delicate counterpoint, and flowering arabesques. At moments, its filigree seems to evoke the song’s images of white clouds, rainbow colors, and trees rustling in the breeze.
— Greg Anderson
