Songs Without Words

The official album-matching songbook to Dudley Moore's 1991 album, Songs Without Words, featuring accurate piano solo transcriptions of all the pieces. Dudley Moore was one of the most beloved and respected artists of our time. Actor, comedian, pianist, composer, conductor, and vocalist, he was renowned for his work in all these areas. Best known to the public for his leading roles in smash hits such as Arthur, Foul Play, and Unfaithfully Yours, he was internationally loved by his audiences. Nevertheless, Dudley's first love was music. A highly-trained classical musician, he studied violin and organ at the Guildhall School of Music in London and later attended Magdalen College at Oxford University as an organ scholar, also studying composition. In his teens, he was inspired by jazz pianists Erroll Garner and Oscar Peterson, and went on to spend many years recording and performing internationally with his own jazz trio. A highly personal collection, Songs Without Words also includes his tribute to composers Tchaikovsky (Thank you, Ilyich) and Satie; a piece dedicated to his son Patrick; and others reflecting his own whimsical play on language. The thirteen pieces share a melancholy and pensive feeling typical of Moore's compositional style. These are, however, challenging pieces, suitable for the advanced pianist. Steve Law's transcriptions were taken from Dudley Moore's recordings. A British composer and arranger, Law studied music at Bristol University and received a Master's degree for his jazz opera Heaven on Earth. In 1998, Law dedicated a piano transcription of Moore's music from the film Bedazzled, and sent the unsolicited score to him, who was so impressed that he invited the young composer to meet with him in London. Law's transcriptions retain the integrity of Moore's rich melodic line, lush expressive harmony and jazz-like improvisation.