Milhaud - Le boeuf sur le toit, Op. 58 (with score)

Or “The Ox on the Roof: The Nothing-Doing Bar,“ 1920 ballet to a scenario by Jean Cocteau. Score of the piano duet transcription by the composer. Ulster Orchestra Yan-Pascal Tortelier Milhaud’s score is strongly influenced by Brazilian popular music--in fact, it quotes nearly 30 Brazilian melodies and is infused with Latin rhythms and noisy, choros-like orchestrations throughout. Milhaud had spent two years in Brazil as a cultural attaché. The piece cycles through tonalities rooted in all twelve pitches, in an ascending pattern according to the three possible diminished seventh chords: C - Eb - F#/Gb - A Db - E/Fb - G - Bb D - F - G#/Ab - B before returning at last to the original tonic of C.