Syncopated Lady

Syncopated Lady was commissioned in 1993 by Claire Givens and her sisters as a surprise 70th birthday present for their mother, an intrepid piano player. Mary Givens’ favorite thing to play was “Bumblebee Boogie,” but she also liked Bach, Gershwin, Bolcom, Shostakovich, and someone named Frankie Carl. Syncopated Lady contains bits of all of these composers mixed together with fragments of “Happy Birthday to You.” As a special treat, it ends with two pages of boogie.