Five Pieces on Five Notes
Instrumentation: solo piano
Duration: ca. 7:30
Premiere: October 16, 2018 | Ryan H. Jones, piano | Cook Recital Hall, East Lansing, MI
For purchasing information, please contact Ryan.
Program Note:
One of the first twentieth-century pieces I fell in love with was György Ligeti’s Musica Ricercata, an eleven-movement set for solo piano, with each movement using one more note in the chromatic set than the previous. I was taken with the color and life these pieces possessed, with such a seemingly restrictive limitation. In this piece, I decided to attempt a similar challenge. I found that this limitation actually opened me up to think in new ways about rhythm, texture, and register. Making use of extremes and contrast, I enjoyed the challenge of building a sound-world around each of these sets of five notes.