While prepping for a school Christmas concert about a month ago, I went to some notation files folders to find my own accompaniment arrangement for Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You," a song I was slated to play with a big group of enthusiastic 8th graders. As I looked through multiple versions, I was surprised to find one with a left hand which borrows from a big hit of the 19th century - although it didn't carry the idea very far.
Well...now that Christmas concerts and Christmas services and Christmas itself have all passed, I found myself going back to this idea. I tossed together some lyrics, and then went back to Cantai, developing software I mentioned last post, which "sings" text. I still have mixed feelings about the current state of Cantai (I can use and still be skeptical of Cantai, can't I?), but I felt convicted that I should go ahead and subscribe if I'm going to use these virtual singers to do my bidding. And believe me, I have more projects in mind for them.
The truth is, every time I first play "All I Want..." in a given year, I'm reminded of how I have to work myself into shape to play those iconic opening triplet chords*...which in turns reminds me of getting in shape to play the exponentially more relentless triplets in Schubert's Erlkönig. (Have I ever been in such shape?) So, during some idle moment last year (or two years ago?), I seemed to have decided to mash these tunes together, but perhaps better judgement intervened. Or maybe I noticed (as I have again) that others have had this idea before.
Well, by the time I re-remembered that there are other mashups out there (see below), the horse had left the barn and there was no real going back. For better or worse, I think my little animation, with sung lyrics, offers something new to the genre. The way I imagine it is that this pianist is asked to play some Christmas carols, Mariah's big tune is put in front of him, he starts playing, and then succumbs to a kind of fever dream reliving past nightmares with Schubert.
I'm not sure there's much more that needs to be said here...
And if you're curious, here are a few others who beat me to the idea, although I promise they had no influence on me. Inspiration came straight from the pain in my wrists! This first one is definitely the most accomplished - no new lyrics, but a fully virtuosic Schubert/Liszt style accompaniment fashioned to accompany Mariah's recording. This next one is fully and aggressively digital, with occasional printed lyrics (though no virtual singing) but rather haphazard attention to detail. It's kind of a mess. And then there's...this. And now there's mine!
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