Three Pentiments

Instrumentation: Solo Piano

Duration:  ca. 8:15

Program Note:

Three Pentiments opens with a joyful, rhythmic (double) fugue which allows the pianist to show off some of the instrument’s dazzling contrapuntal possibilities. The first subject is light and highly rhythmic, featuring repeated notes and ending with a running figure. The second subject, which acts as a counter-subject to the first motive, is slightly more modest but it reappears in several different guises— including the second fugal exposition of the movement and the stretti that bring the movement to its climax.

Monolith is an atmospheric respite from the activity of the first movement, focusing on the gestures and theatricality of the piano, and exploring the expressive domains of touch, dynamics, tessitura, and rhythmic flexibility.

The work’s finishing Toccata is a celebration of the piano as a percussion instrument. The performer is asked to negotiate difficult repeated-note and octave figures, attacking the keyboard in a blur of activity.

Premiere:  December 7, 2019; Columbia, SC.  Grace Shepard, piano.