Clap Your Hands! [Alf:00-48309]

This thrilling concert/contest work boasts an array of musical moods and artful contrasts. A striking minor theme opens the piece, enhanced by percussive handclaps and punctuated by emphatic cadences from the piano. In the middle, a lyrical major-key melody surfaces along with beautifully sustained legato choral phrases. A joyful recapitulation ends this tour de force even stronger than it began.