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Music for piano solo
by Mark Zuckerman
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View perusal scores. Hear recordings. Order sheet music.
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Intermediate |
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Coming in Thirds (4' ACA) commissioned for the Elementary/Middle School Division of the 2010 Renée B.
Fisher Piano Competition. Accordingly, it provides opportunities to demonstrate
pianistic ability, both technical (dexterity, touch, and control) and musical
(clarity and expressivity), while having fun. The opening impertinent, jazzy
lick bounces through a series of transforming adventures as the piece unfolds,
with a sassy attitude throughout. Pianist Jai Jeffryes adroitly captures this
spirit in his sparkling recording of Coming in Thirds on his CD,
Tangent Shores
– Amethyst. The title refers not to the relative order of finish in the
competition – where the object is to come in first, after all – but to the
melodic and harmonic structure of the music, which is based on minor thirds. |
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Twilight Reverie (5'
ACA) a tone poem in which the opening figure, composed of two rising
leaps, is echoed and turned in on itself, acquiring harmonic coloring along the
way. These elements are patiently recombined and re-combed, exploring a range of
colors increasingly rich yet diffuse, until finally reaching a definitive
expression before dissolving back into its elements. The process to me is
evocative of a clear sky at twilight, where the unhurried setting sun creates a
collection of colors that gradually combine and recombine, becoming brilliant in
a final moment before dissipating. |
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Advanced |
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On the Edges (9'30"
ACA)
goes by in six sections contrasting in pulse and energy. The
first section is a toccata with two-handed arpeggios gradually turning into
chords that get thicker and thicker before returning to the opening arpeggio
motive.
A dialogue follows where slow-moving chords are in counterpoint
with quicker, arpeggiated figures derived from the toccata’s opening figure.
Then there’s a quiet lyrical reflection – again based on the
opening motive – eliding into a cadenza with arpeggiated figures that increase
in range and intensity before dissolving into a trill.
The next section turns the toccata’s opening motive into the
subject of a four-part invention, the first in a series of three linked by
thematic rotation: the counter-subject of one invention becomes the subject for
the next. This cycle completes as the subject of the first invention becomes the
counter-subject of the last, and ends as the three subjects are combined,
segueing into an extended return of the opening toccata. All this is brilliantly captured by
Peter Vinograde in his recording on
Phoenix USA.
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Homonyms (1'15"
ACA) a whimsical encore piece. |
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Quick Study (1'15"
ACA) an energetic encore piece. |
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Etude with 'tude (4' ACA) an octatonic take on boogie-woogie. |
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Just Keyboard Respect (4'15" ACA) a
tribute to the late J. K. Randall. |
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Retrogressive Study: a theme and five polite variations (2'
ACA)the title is a pun on both its propelling musical element (retrograde)
and
its stylistic throwback: if Chopin could write a Revolutionary Etude, I could
write a reactionary one. |
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A Dozen Simple Whimsies (12'15" ACA)
12 minute-long pieces. |
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