Zwilich: Peanuts Gallery

Charles Schulz was a big fan of Ellen Zwilich’s music, mentioning her premieres twice in Sunday PEANUTS® comic strips, including the first performance of Zwilich’s PEANUTS GALLERY® for Piano and Orchestra. The six-movement suite was composed as a concerto for young soloists, with movements depicting “Schroeder’s Beethoven Fantasy,” “Lullaby for Linus,” “Snoopy Does the Samba,” “Charlie Brown’s Lament,” “Lucy’s Freakout,” and “Peppermint Patty & Marcie Lead the Parade.” The original concerto version was later published for two pianos.

The present edition was arranged by pianist Marc Peloquin, adapting the entire work for solo piano. Each movement may be performed separately, and while the music is provided in its concert order of movements, the music may also be learned in other orderings for graded study, as the six character pieces call for varying skill levels.