mp3blogging; tracks temporarily posted:
Gertrud Orff: "Kleine Klavierstucke, Heft 1 Nr.2" [0.7 MB .mp3]
Nino Rota: one of "Seven Difficult Pieces for Children" [1.1 MB .mp3] (hat tip SHM)
These piano pieces couldn't be more basic but much is packed in here. Both have a main theme that plays twice, a second theme (not really a chorus), and a reprise of theme one. They are almost national stereotypes, the Orff precise and unornamented, the Rota playful and filigreed. Theme one in the Orff resembles a playground song, theme two a folk dance. In the Rota it's reversed--the playground tune nests inside the folk tune, which has that inevitable circus "oom pah" that makes Fellini Fellini.
I like them both, but prefer the Orff. Besides being exquisitely organized, it's profound. It seems more about the loss of childhood than something a child would play.
Update: This post has been revised: it mistakenly identified the first piece as Carl Orff's when it is in fact Gertrud's--his wife from 1939-1953. (The CD is less than clear.) I'm letting myself off the hook somewhat because this piece is the most Carl-like tune in her "Kleine Klavierstucke" suite: the rest are almost Debussy-like in their delicacy and have a half-sketched, Eastern quality (the CD liner notes liken them to Sumi brush painting).