Music and Texts of GARY BACHLUND
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Study in C sharp minor - (2001)
for piano
This "blue note" study for piano came about while inventing something for a song setting. Sometimes I sit and improvise, and happen upon a gesture which strikes my thoughts positively. This is grounded in the advice Stravinsky gave, as noted in his Harvard Lecture series, where he spoke of stumbling across the happy accident (my words). The gesture appealed to me, and yet it did not seem apt for that song setting. Rather the personality of the strutting melodic line wanted to stand alone; I heeded that wish.
The repetition of the melodic fragment is broken by several devices, from the falling, parallel quartal gesture as shown above, and another beneath which rises. Thereafter, the motive returns, truncated into a three beat, three gesture phrase before the last statement.
The score is 2 pages, with an approximate performance time of 1' 30."
The score for Study in C sharp minor is available as a free PDF download, though any major commercial performance or recording of the work is prohibited without prior arrangement with the composer. Click on the graphic below for this piano-vocal score.
