This was my first big compositional project for the fall of my first full year sabbatical at Brandeis. Accordingly, I wrote all ten consecutively, and only came up for air once (or at least I'm told I did). I started the Book in late August of 2002 and finished it in late October.
This is the only commissioned book. It was commissioned by the Fromm Foundation, which helped offset some of the salary I was foregoing in order to take the whole year off. It's published and © by CF Peters, Edition 67928e.
#41 Bop It (piano bop) for Geoffrey Burleson. Once Geoff found out I'd written a stride 'tude, he wanted a bop one.
#42 Madam I'm Adam (palindromes) A compositional challenge I'd wanted to try for years.
#43 Wiggle Room (fast notes moving in parallel) for Amy Briggs. Amy suggested writing one taking off on the texture of the C minor prelude of the first book of the Well-Tempered Clavier.
#44 Triaddled (triads and polytriads)
#45 Pink Tab (accelerando-ritenuto) I had dreamed the title Pink Tab for a piece, and here's where I used it. The title seems to be a drug reference, and who says it's not?
#46 Durchrauscht die luft (sevenths) The title is a phrase from one of the Liebeslieder Waltzes, meaning darting through the air.
#47 Fra diabolis (tritones) With this one I had composed études on all possible intervals. At least the ones that customarily fit under the hand.
#48 What Half-Diminishes One (Half-Diminishes All) (half-diminished seventh chords) To Eric Chafe.
#49 Saltimmano (finger pedaling) at Amy Briggs's suggestion. The title is a variation on the saltimbocca dish in Italy, meaning "jumps in mouth". This means jumps in hand.
#50 No Stranger to Our Planet (register shifts)
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Études Book IV
Book IV of the études was started in Maynard, Massachusetts in December, 2000 and finished in Maynard in July of 2002. The Book is published and © by CF Peters, Edition 67928d.
#31 Usurpation (on a slow trill) written to commemorate my colleague Marty Boykan's 70th birthday, and it quotes two passages from his second piano sonata.
#32 Boogie Ninths (on ninths) probably one of the hardest ones. This is from the Bridge CD in an auto-generated YouTube video.
#33 Sliding Scales (scales) for Marilyn Nonken
#31 Usurpation (on a slow trill) written to commemorate my colleague Marty Boykan's 70th birthday, and it quotes two passages from his second piano sonata.
#32 Boogie Ninths (on ninths) probably one of the hardest ones. This is from the Bridge CD in an auto-generated YouTube video.
#33 Sliding Scales (scales) for Marilyn Nonken
Marilyn Nonken's recording on Albany.
#34 Chorale Fantasy (on an embedded melody) a kind of hide-and-seek piece where the "melody" isn't always at the top, and is notated in larger noteheads.
#35 Luceole (rising seconds and thirds) for Amy Briggs. The title means "fireflies" in Italian, which were copious at the MacDowell Colony when I was writing it.
#36 Purple (on a chord — Amy's favorite) for Amy Briggs. This is the first 'tude with metric modulations.
#37 Taking the Fifths (on fifths) for Amy Briggs. This is one of my personal favorites, which makes one of us.
This is a live performance in 2009 by Gregory de Turck.
This is a performance by Emily Chapman in 2010.
This is Amy's recording on Bridge.
#38 Silent But Deadly (pianissimo) to Shehan B. Dissanayake (whose name has the same acronym). The title was Amy's idea.
#39 Sixth Appeal (sixths)
#40 Strident (stride piano) for Amy Briggs. Thus did genre become fair game as the subject of a 'tude. We were having heat advisories when I was writing this piece, thus I imagined I was writing it in New Orleans. Which makes no sense, because stride is a New York style.
#34 Chorale Fantasy (on an embedded melody) a kind of hide-and-seek piece where the "melody" isn't always at the top, and is notated in larger noteheads.
#35 Luceole (rising seconds and thirds) for Amy Briggs. The title means "fireflies" in Italian, which were copious at the MacDowell Colony when I was writing it.
#36 Purple (on a chord — Amy's favorite) for Amy Briggs. This is the first 'tude with metric modulations.
#37 Taking the Fifths (on fifths) for Amy Briggs. This is one of my personal favorites, which makes one of us.
This is a live performance in 2009 by Gregory de Turck.
This is a performance by Emily Chapman in 2010.
This is Amy's recording on Bridge.
#38 Silent But Deadly (pianissimo) to Shehan B. Dissanayake (whose name has the same acronym). The title was Amy's idea.
#39 Sixth Appeal (sixths)
#40 Strident (stride piano) for Amy Briggs. Thus did genre become fair game as the subject of a 'tude. We were having heat advisories when I was writing this piece, thus I imagined I was writing it in New Orleans. Which makes no sense, because stride is a New York style.
Études Book III
Begun August, 1999 in Bangor, Maine. Finished January 2000 at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Published and © by CF Peters, Edition 67928c.
#21 Twelve-Step Program (chromatic scales and wedges). Title from Jay Eckardt. Written memory of Earl Kim.
This is Sung-Soo Cho's recording of it on Albany Records.
#22 Schnozzage (using the nose) The nose part can also be played by an extremely well-trained pet.
This is Amy's recording of it on Bridge.
#23 You Dirty Rag (melody in the left thumb)
#24 Horned In (horn fifths) for David Horne.
#25 Fists of Fury (using fifths) for Marilyn Nonken.
#26 Once Bitten (mordents)
#27 Halftone (black key-white key étude)
#28 You've Got Scale (scales and arpeggios) for Teresa McCollough. Here Youkyoung Kim plays it.
This is Amy Briggs playing it in Chicago, in the dark ages of analog video.
#29 Roll Your Own (rolled chords) for Jason Eckardt, whose title idea it was.
#30 A Gliss is Just a Gliss (glissandi). This is Amy Briggs in 2001.
This is Kara Huber in 2015!
This is Sung-Soo Cho's recording on Albany Records.
Steve Gosling, December 17, 2018.
This is Yukiko Sekino playing it in Jordan Hall.
This is Sung-Soo Cho's video of it during the coronavirus quarantine.
#21 Twelve-Step Program (chromatic scales and wedges). Title from Jay Eckardt. Written memory of Earl Kim.
This is Sung-Soo Cho's recording of it on Albany Records.
#22 Schnozzage (using the nose) The nose part can also be played by an extremely well-trained pet.
This is Amy's recording of it on Bridge.
#23 You Dirty Rag (melody in the left thumb)
#24 Horned In (horn fifths) for David Horne.
#25 Fists of Fury (using fifths) for Marilyn Nonken.
#26 Once Bitten (mordents)
#27 Halftone (black key-white key étude)
#28 You've Got Scale (scales and arpeggios) for Teresa McCollough. Here Youkyoung Kim plays it.
This is Amy Briggs playing it in Chicago, in the dark ages of analog video.
#29 Roll Your Own (rolled chords) for Jason Eckardt, whose title idea it was.
#30 A Gliss is Just a Gliss (glissandi). This is Amy Briggs in 2001.
This is Kara Huber in 2015!
This is Sung-Soo Cho's recording on Albany Records.
Steve Gosling, December 17, 2018.
This is Yukiko Sekino playing it in Jordan Hall.
This is Sung-Soo Cho's video of it during the coronavirus quarantine.
Études, Book II
Begun June, 1996 in Rome, finished August, 1998 in Bangor, Maine. Published by and © by CF Peters, Edition 67928b.
#11 Touch Typing (index fingers only) In the recording session, Judy Sherman suggested it should, instead, be called Hunt and Peck.
#12 Northpaw (right-hand étude) During my first year at Brandeis, we lived in Salisbury, Maryland, to where I drove every other weekend. The non-driving weekends I spent writing in my office. This was written in a weekend in my office.
#13 Plucking A (inside the piano). There are two versions — one for smaller grand pianos, one for Steinway D's. As the crossbars are in different places.
Not that you asked for it, but here it is backwards.
#14 Martler (crossing hands)
#15 The Third, Man (thirds) the first of six consecutive 'tudes on intervals.
#16 Ice Boogie (melodic, or "broken" octaves) The "Ice" in the title refers to the five-day ice storm in Maine that was going on while I was writing it; branches broke, electricity was out for several days, we learned how to use our coal stove. Beff tried to walk the eight blocks to downtown to catch a bus to work, fell three times crossing the street, and decided to stay home. Much of the piece was thus written by candlelight.
Amy's recording on Bridge
#11 Touch Typing (index fingers only) In the recording session, Judy Sherman suggested it should, instead, be called Hunt and Peck.
#12 Northpaw (right-hand étude) During my first year at Brandeis, we lived in Salisbury, Maryland, to where I drove every other weekend. The non-driving weekends I spent writing in my office. This was written in a weekend in my office.
#13 Plucking A (inside the piano). There are two versions — one for smaller grand pianos, one for Steinway D's. As the crossbars are in different places.
Not that you asked for it, but here it is backwards.
#14 Martler (crossing hands)
#15 The Third, Man (thirds) the first of six consecutive 'tudes on intervals.
#16 Ice Boogie (melodic, or "broken" octaves) The "Ice" in the title refers to the five-day ice storm in Maine that was going on while I was writing it; branches broke, electricity was out for several days, we learned how to use our coal stove. Beff tried to walk the eight blocks to downtown to catch a bus to work, fell three times crossing the street, and decided to stay home. Much of the piece was thus written by candlelight.
Amy's recording on Bridge
#17 Keine Kaskadenjagd Mehr (descending thirds and fourths)
#18 Pitching from the Stretch (tenths) written at the MacDowell Colony. This is Amy's recording of it on Bridge.
#19 Secondary Dominance (seconds) also written at MacDowell. This is, by the way, the first 'tude movie I ever shot. Hence the shaky camera.
Amy's recording on Bridge.
#18 Pitching from the Stretch (tenths) written at the MacDowell Colony. This is Amy's recording of it on Bridge.
#19 Secondary Dominance (seconds) also written at MacDowell. This is, by the way, the first 'tude movie I ever shot. Hence the shaky camera.
Amy's recording on Bridge.
#20 Fourth of Habit (fourths) for Geoffrey Burleson. Said to sound "like McCoy Tyner on speed" This is Amy Briggs's recording of it on Bridge.
>
This is Marilyn Nonken playing it in her living room.
>
This is Marilyn Nonken playing it in her living room.
Amy's recording on Bridge.
'
Monday, August 20, 2012
Etudes, Book I
The first book of piano études took a while to rev up — the first one was written in March, 1988 and the second one in July, 1991, for starters — and the last one was written in March of 1996. There are no existing movies of half of them. I'd tell you why, but then the secret would be out. Book I is published and © by CF Peters, Edition 67928a.
There are placeholders for the études for which there are no videos, in case some are posted after this entry was first posted.
#1 E-Machines (repeated notes). Written in a playground in Mesa, Arizona, over six consecutive mornings, March 10-15, 1988. It's got a symmetrical harmonic structure based on all-combinatorial hexachords, because that's what cool kids did at the time. It was written at the request of Martin Butler, and takes off on a texture in his tape piece Night Machines.
Steve Gosling's recording.
This is Amy's 2004 recording of it.
#2 Bam! (swirls of notes). Written for Karen Harvey as a companion to E-Machines. Also entirely written outdoors.
#3 Nocturnal. (slow repeated notes) E-Machines was originally called Nocturnal E-Machines, a rather gross play on words of the title of Martin's tape piece (see #1), and when Peters took the piece, I took out the word Nocturnal and used it for this piece. The sequence of repeated notes is the same as in E-Machines. Lyn Reyna suggested it as a slow companion for the first two to make a balanced set.
#4 Trillage (trills) Written at the request of Alan Feinberg, who played E-Machines instead.
#5 Figure Eight (octaves) The first étude written just for the halibut. There is no movie of this piece, but Geoff Burleson's premiere of it, way back in the years that began with a one, is so hair-raising and death-defying that I have inserted a SoundCloud link.
This is Amy's recording on Bridge.
#6 Mano à mano (alternating hands) For Lisa Moore, honoring the two-hand tremolo she played in Davidovsky's piano Synchronism.
#7 Les Arbres Embués (thick sonorities and embedded lines). At Martin Butler's suggestion, a "Debussy-like" étude. At least that was its premise. It's the slowest and quietest piece I have, and sempre pianissimo. This is Marilyn Nonken's recording on CRI followed by a live performance of it at Tanglewood by Gregory deTurck.
Here is Amy's Bridge recording of it.
#8 Close Enough for Jazz (ostinato) for Sandra Sprecher to premiere at the American Academy in Rome.
Innova Recordings SoundClouded their recording of it by Teresa McCollough.
This is Amy's recording.
#9 Pollici e mignoli, or The Virus That Ate New York (thumbs and pinkies only). This one got infected with a virus that eats the piece up.
#10 Corrente (left-hand running notes). It is music I dreamed, with the left hand continually descending to the bottom, and also celebrating the acoustic of Aurelia 'B' at the American Academy in Rome.
There are placeholders for the études for which there are no videos, in case some are posted after this entry was first posted.
#1 E-Machines (repeated notes). Written in a playground in Mesa, Arizona, over six consecutive mornings, March 10-15, 1988. It's got a symmetrical harmonic structure based on all-combinatorial hexachords, because that's what cool kids did at the time. It was written at the request of Martin Butler, and takes off on a texture in his tape piece Night Machines.
Steve Gosling's recording.
This is Amy's 2004 recording of it.
#2 Bam! (swirls of notes). Written for Karen Harvey as a companion to E-Machines. Also entirely written outdoors.
#3 Nocturnal. (slow repeated notes) E-Machines was originally called Nocturnal E-Machines, a rather gross play on words of the title of Martin's tape piece (see #1), and when Peters took the piece, I took out the word Nocturnal and used it for this piece. The sequence of repeated notes is the same as in E-Machines. Lyn Reyna suggested it as a slow companion for the first two to make a balanced set.
#4 Trillage (trills) Written at the request of Alan Feinberg, who played E-Machines instead.
#5 Figure Eight (octaves) The first étude written just for the halibut. There is no movie of this piece, but Geoff Burleson's premiere of it, way back in the years that began with a one, is so hair-raising and death-defying that I have inserted a SoundCloud link.
This is Amy's recording on Bridge.
#6 Mano à mano (alternating hands) For Lisa Moore, honoring the two-hand tremolo she played in Davidovsky's piano Synchronism.
#7 Les Arbres Embués (thick sonorities and embedded lines). At Martin Butler's suggestion, a "Debussy-like" étude. At least that was its premise. It's the slowest and quietest piece I have, and sempre pianissimo. This is Marilyn Nonken's recording on CRI followed by a live performance of it at Tanglewood by Gregory deTurck.
Here is Amy's Bridge recording of it.
#8 Close Enough for Jazz (ostinato) for Sandra Sprecher to premiere at the American Academy in Rome.
Innova Recordings SoundClouded their recording of it by Teresa McCollough.
This is Amy's recording.
#9 Pollici e mignoli, or The Virus That Ate New York (thumbs and pinkies only). This one got infected with a virus that eats the piece up.
#10 Corrente (left-hand running notes). It is music I dreamed, with the left hand continually descending to the bottom, and also celebrating the acoustic of Aurelia 'B' at the American Academy in Rome.
Préludes Book I
Préludes Book I was written in August to November of 2010. For reasons that escape even the composer, every title in the Book is a palindrome. Every piece also briefly quotes a piece of public domain music — you can find out exactly which music is quoted by buying the Book.
Karl Larson premiered the entire book on April 20, 2011 at Bowling Green State University. The book is published and © by CF Peters, New York, Edition 68329a.
The first three and a half préludes in the book were written at home; the rest were written at Yaddo, to whom many, many thanks are due.
#1 Moody, My Doom (to Rick Moody) This uses the melody of a song written by Rick Moody as a sort of middleground line.
#2 Never Odd or Even (to Karl Larson)
#3 Too Hot to Hoot (to Anthony de Mare) — the first half of this prélude is taken from the opening piano solo from the final movement of Stolen Moments, whose premiere Tony played.
#4 Pull a Wall Up (to Geoffrey Burleson)
Here's Geoffy playing it in 2016.
#5 No, It Is Opposition
#6 In A Regal Age Ran I This one rather obviously uses the repeated chord texture in the E-flat minor prélude from Book I of the Well-Tempered Clavier.
#7 Dr. Awkward
#8 So Many Dynamos A compositional response to a tremendous windstorm at Yaddo the day it was begun.
#9 Puff Up (If I Puff Up) I must have been mad at something.
#10 Air an Aria
Karl Larson premiered the entire book on April 20, 2011 at Bowling Green State University. The book is published and © by CF Peters, New York, Edition 68329a.
The first three and a half préludes in the book were written at home; the rest were written at Yaddo, to whom many, many thanks are due.
#1 Moody, My Doom (to Rick Moody) This uses the melody of a song written by Rick Moody as a sort of middleground line.
#2 Never Odd or Even (to Karl Larson)
#3 Too Hot to Hoot (to Anthony de Mare) — the first half of this prélude is taken from the opening piano solo from the final movement of Stolen Moments, whose premiere Tony played.
#4 Pull a Wall Up (to Geoffrey Burleson)
Here's Geoffy playing it in 2016.
#5 No, It Is Opposition
#6 In A Regal Age Ran I This one rather obviously uses the repeated chord texture in the E-flat minor prélude from Book I of the Well-Tempered Clavier.
#7 Dr. Awkward
#8 So Many Dynamos A compositional response to a tremendous windstorm at Yaddo the day it was begun.
#9 Puff Up (If I Puff Up) I must have been mad at something.
#10 Air an Aria
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