Many years ago, while Anne McCaffrey was writing The Masterharper of Pern - a "biography" of her much-loved fictional musician Masterharper Robinton - she surprised us with a request for music. The idea began with one tune from Robinton's story, but as we worked on it she began suggesting other pieces from her Pern series that she wanted us to compose. After many rough tapes (this was the 1990s - we were using cassettes!) she asked what it would take to get us into a professional studio to make a CD. That first collaboration was given the same title as the novel: "The Masterharper of Pern." No sooner had we finished the one project than she asked us to consider a second CD inspired by the adventures and music of Menolly, a young would-be Harper from a remote seahold, who was the main character in Anne's young adult series based in the Harperhall. Starting with lyric snippets that had appeared throughout the Harperhall Trilogy, Anne did some combining and expanding, as did we. She also found, among her old files, a complete Pern ballad she'd written in 1969 that had never been published. It was probably intended to be The Ballad of Lessa's Ride, but since she had already put together a new set of lyrics for that song for the "Masterharper of Pern" CD, we included her long lost saga under the new title Four Hundred Turns. Finding Elizabeth Malczynski, the artist who created the original Harperhall covers, and getting the use of her fantastic artwork for Dragonsong was the very definition of "icing on the cake." We're happy to be able to feature it here in a larger format than the CD allowed, AND to share a full spread of her Dragonsinger cover art.
Many years ago, while Anne McCaffrey was writing The Masterharper of Pern - a "biography" of her much-loved fictional musician Masterharper Robinton - she surprised us with a request for music. The idea began with one tune from Robinton's story, but as we worked on it she began suggesting other pieces from her Pern series that she wanted us to compose. After many rough tapes (this was the 1990s - we were using cassettes!) she asked what it would take to get us into a professional studio to make a CD. That first collaboration was given the same title as the novel: "The Masterharper of Pern." No sooner had we finished the one project than she asked us to consider a second CD inspired by the adventures and music of Menolly, a young would-be Harper from a remote seahold, who was the main character in Anne's young adult series based in the Harperhall. Starting with lyric snippets that had appeared throughout the Harperhall Trilogy, Anne did some combining and expanding, as did we. She also found, among her old files, a complete Pern ballad she'd written in 1969 that had never been published. It was probably intended to be The Ballad of Lessa's Ride, but since she had already put together a new set of lyrics for that song for the "Masterharper of Pern" CD, we included her long lost saga under the new title Four Hundred Turns. Finding Elizabeth Malczynski, the artist who created the original Harperhall covers, and getting the use of her fantastic artwork for Dragonsong was the very definition of "icing on the cake." We're happy to be able to feature it here in a larger format than the CD allowed, AND to share a full spread of her Dragonsinger cover art.
