The Demon Barber

Kenji Bunch

2010

Piano

"My first exposure to 'Sweeny Todd' came as a 10-year old watching a PBS broadcast of the Broadway production. I was both terrified and fascinated, and have felt the work's and Sondheim's influence ever since. For 'The Demon Barber,'-- an homage to the seething, menacing introductory song, 'The Ballad of Sweeny Todd,' I highlighted the original song's oblique references to the 'Dies Irae' Gregorian melody into a persistent, ominous chant that surfaces throughout. I also wanted to amplify the work's horror-show qualities with low register rumblings, shrieking high clusters, and insistent rhythmic ostinato patterns."