piano pieces I-V

op. 24, 2004

piano piece I – no. 24
piano piece II – 17 years later
piano piece III – sunset
piano piece IV – wild child
piano piece V – tomorrow it will be better

For piano solo
Duration: 8 min.

World Premiere at 19 June 2010 Festspiele Europäische Wochen Passau, Germany

CD recording, ECM New Series 2309 – Music for piano and string quartet
Piano: Lorenda Ramou

Composer’s notes

Piano Pieces I – V consist of five miniatures that are fragments or sections of an unreal story spanning 17 years – aphoristic thoughts that pass by like a breath. The first and last pieces are intended as the prologue and epilogue of the composition and pieces two, three and four sound like snapshots of three different experiences.

The first piece, no. 24, is written in the calm character of an inner dialogue and opens the composition like a short overture. The pulse of the piece should remain stable in the pauses and fill the spaces in between imaginatively. The number 24 is a fictitious house number where the unreal story takes place.

The second piece, 17 years later, sounds rhythmic and melodious in comparison to the first piece, as if after 17 years in the house with the number 24 a first noticeable episode of a life takes place and activates the subsequent process. This is continued in the three following piano pieces.

In the third piano piece, sunset, there are two themes that are composed in alternating dialogue, also intended as counterpoint: in the echo of one theme, the next takes place.

The next piece, wild child, is charged with the energy of a strongly pulsating theme that radiates the character of a wild action.

The final miniature, tomorrow it will be better, serves as a response to the fourth piece and is the epilogue of the composition.

Between the five pieces, the tension must be maintained intensively so that the entire composition stands under an arch, as in a narrative.