Steps Volume I - piano solo - 2001-2006

Details page 2 (of 3) - mp3s and pdfs follow these pages

Over The Ocean (dur. 6mins) is the first of a number of piano pieces from 2003, The title is a vague pun on Seabourne, and is a monumental-sounding piece. Heavy masculine chords, almost like 2-piano writing, alternate with tender, simpler music. The piece has a sense of sea journey, of casting out towards the unreachable horizon. (Also see video at foot of main piano page.)

Little Scene (dur. 4½mins), also from 2003, shares the sound world of the pieces above, as well as a common "tonality" and melodic conour. Gentle yearning predominates and blossoms into mutlilayered rhythmic arabesque.

Awake! (dur. 3½mins), whilst certainly not a "process" piece, nevertheless has a certain "working out" quality. Ideas derived from the numbers 15 and 12 are expanded to create a stuttering, perhaps manic, scherzo-like movement, with overtones of improvisation and syncopation. There is a feeling of Spring - the birth dance of Persephone, anew.

The Sun - just touched the Morning! (dur. 4mins) was the first of two shorter pieces written in May/June 2003. Lyrical and song-like, it moves with a free rubato and an intense melancholic air. Its source is, once again, EmilyDickinson - "Morning" is touched by "the Sun", thinking it is there to stay, but its visit is merely passing, leaving but a dimmer glow behind. (also see video at foot of main piano page.)

Greeting! (dur. 2½mins) acts as an album leaf to Volume 1. A simple, innocent, bright, dancing little piece, as befits the breaking of a long silence - a moment of naïve, joyful release!

In Winter (dur. 10mins),

Im Windesweben
An Baches Ranft
Winter Landscape with Rocks
Noch zwingt mich treue
The Lark in Winter
The Rose in Winter

This little set of pieces was composed within relatively simple technical limits so as to be approachable by a younger or amateur player. Miniature landscapes, four take their leads from poems (by Stefan George, and Sylvia Plath) - the last two reconnect with previous musical personae.

(cont'd....)

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