Consuela Lee

piano

Consuela Lee's The Sun Is Rising lies somewhere between Chopin or Debussy showpieces and Lee's own virtuosic form of bebop jazz. In a single movement, it covers an enormous range of the piano's expression with reflective sounds of Impressionism, climax-building layered jazz figures, and more.

There are two extant versions of The Sun Is Rising, transcribed from two separate performances by Consuela Lee. These pieces have yet to be found written in the composer's own hand, though there exist similar piano works by Lee in manuscript (Saying GoodBye, Ray of Light, The Chosen, and other solos). Both versions were transcribed in 2023 by Eric Willy Galobardes.

The first, long version of The Sun Is Rising, at six minutes in duration, recorded on tape cassette at the house of Lee's brother in 1979, adds coloristic flourishes and developmental material to each thematic section, in addition to cascades of arppegiation and scales in the French style.

The second, short version, at four minutes in duration, was video recorded at Baruch College, New York, in 1989. This version is compact; it uses more-common hand patterns with a clearer delineation between musical sections, and contains fewer arpeggiations and flourishes in transitional moments.

This 2024 edition of the 1979/89 pieces includes a preface by Dr. Nnenna Ogwo, biographical background on Consuela Lee written by her daughter Monica Moorehead, and both the long and short versions of The Sun Is Rising in one book.

This piece is included on the Associated Board of Royal Music Schools' ARSM diploma piano repertoire list.