Four Quiet Preludes
for solo piano (1994)
Duration: ca 10 minutes
Four Quiet Preludes, for solo piano, is
perhaps the most extreme or minimal of
all my compositions, in regard to both the
musical material and to the very slow,
meditative unfolding of this material.
These four pieces (played without a
pause) were, for me, a kind of personal
meditation on certain harmonic
structures that I have explored in nearly
all of my work, from the early 1980s until
today. I tried to find a system in which I
could incorporate both tonal and atonal
harmonic material simultaneously. I
wanted to create a flexible musical
language that could embrace both of
these facets of music at the same time,
without having to give up one for the
other. As such, Four Quiet Preludes became
a kind of personal Harmonielehre, for a
harmonic soundworld that can be heard,
with the exception of Night Rain and Grey
and White, in all of the other works on this
recording. The compositional idea for Four
Quiet Preludes also evolved from an
interest in exploring the way a single
musical idea could suggest a larger idea
or form, similar to the manner in which a
Haiku, for example, can express a much
larger idea with a few carefully chosen
words. Each of the four pieces quietly
explores the essence of only one or two
melodic or harmonic ideas. Another
important element of the work is the
resonance of the piano itself. The piano’s
sustain pedal is held down throughout,
creating a kind of continuous ‘harmonic
shadow,’ and the resonance of the various
harmonies can be heard long after they
are played, interacting with new material.
