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- Matthew Aucoin
Three Études (2014)
- Associated Music Publishers Inc (World)
Programme Note
Audio
Listen to movement I
Listen to movement II
Listen to movement III
Movements
rondo which devours itself
currents
a sounding
Composer note
These are studies not of particular technical challenges of piano playing, but rather in forms of musical motion and pianistic sonic possibilities. The playful "rondo which devours itself" consists of a recurring fragmentary line in the right hand that is constantly menaced by opposing forces in the music, little electric jolts that force the line to grow shorter and shorter over the piece's brief lifespan, until the whole complex self-combusts. The second etude, "currents," is a study in a strange, hovering form of perpetual motion. And the third, "a sounding," is a melancholy sounding of the depths of the piano's rich capacity for resonance.
— Matthew Aucoin
Listen to movement I
Listen to movement II
Listen to movement III
Movements
rondo which devours itself
currents
a sounding
Composer note
These are studies not of particular technical challenges of piano playing, but rather in forms of musical motion and pianistic sonic possibilities. The playful "rondo which devours itself" consists of a recurring fragmentary line in the right hand that is constantly menaced by opposing forces in the music, little electric jolts that force the line to grow shorter and shorter over the piece's brief lifespan, until the whole complex self-combusts. The second etude, "currents," is a study in a strange, hovering form of perpetual motion. And the third, "a sounding," is a melancholy sounding of the depths of the piano's rich capacity for resonance.
— Matthew Aucoin
Scores
Reviews
Three Études (2014), for solo piano, showed Aucoin in a similarly angular style. The first of the set, entitled “rondo which devours itself,” is a witty display of disjointed statements that come together in sturdy phrases before imploding. The second movement flows from a meandering line that is punctuated by left-hand chords in irregular rhythm. The final piece of the set, “a sounding,” contains harmonies of bright tonal beauty.
24th June 2015