solo piano etudes

This is the first movement - a toccata - and the related second movement of a set of 10 etudes for piano which (mostly) explore a single basic interval. The Toccata, though, uses gestures consisting of expanding patterns of intervals as a way of opening the cycle - second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh in rapidly expanding "arpeggio" figures, like laying out the basic materials the rest of the pieces are based on.

Piano Etudes 2018 - 1. Toccata and 2. Etude on Thirds

This is a slow waltz from the cycle of Piano Etudes where most of the material is based on the intervals of a fourth or a fifth. It has a deliberately "nostalgic" feel, which contrasts with the more mid-century-modernist atmosphere of the rest of the cycle - a point of repose, as it were. Overall, this is project about me exploring those aspects of the western art music tradition that for one reason or another I neglected earlier in my creative life, before the 20 years silence in terms of written compositions between 1996 and 2016.

Waltz Lent - etude on fourths and fifths

A slow build based on a very simple "ground" of major and minor seconds. This is the central piece in the cycle of Piano Etudes, based as it is on the smallest of intervals available on the piano. The opening toccata and the finale both use the full range of available intervals, so this, despite its rather aggressive moments, stands as the minimal point at the centre of the cycle in terms of its actual intervallic content - a sort of focussing in on things.

Piano Etudes 2018 - 1. Toccata and 2. Etude on Thirds

bennetthogg