WELCOME TO YE NEW MUSIC FAYRE 2009!

The Trois Études pour le piano were composed during the months of June and July 2009. Though conceived as a related "set" of three movements, they may be performed as individual concert pieces. "Les Erinnyes" was the first in order of completion, followed by "Hommage à Edgar Degas" and the Étude-Tombeau. These pieces are "studies" in the fullest sense of the word, since they pose not only formidable technical difficulties for the mature pianist in search of virtuoso concert literature but also represented a challenge for the composer himself, who set out to create new music in a romantic idiom comparable in both difficulty and artistic scope to the études of Chopin and Liszt.

"Les Erinnyes" ("The Furies") is an evocation of the punishing spirits of Classical myth—Alecto (Unrest), Megaera (Jealousy), and Tisiphone (Vengeance). The étude opens with an extended section swarming with biting dissonances, requiring the pianist to perform successive seconds in sixteenth notes at a relatively fast tempo in the right hand alone within a relatively subdued dynamic range. Rapid, delicate double-note figuration in the right hand continues to dominate as the music finally takes on a tonal orientation, eventually leading to powerful octaves in contrary motion alternating with brilliant sextuplets. A less agitated, more lyrical section ensues, in which the right hand sounds a plaintive melody over streams of sixteenths and finally to the accompaniment of rocking triplets below. After the music fades to a barely audible pianissississimo, the tempo rapidly accelerates, and with a startling crescendo an exotic scale rises from the depths to a final chordal climax. The overall key in this movemen is E minor, corresponding to the tonal center of the third étude.

The Étude-Tombeau is a study in subtle dynamic contrasts within the "piano" dynamic range, and as such is more about control and nuance that overt virtuosity. The "tombeau" in the title suggests that it belongs to the long tradition of laments or déplorations created in honor of deceased composers, although Ford had no specific composer in mind and sought, instead, to revitalize this commemorative genre itself by intentionally adopting a traditional style. This piece is in a-a'-b-a'' form, where the "b" section comprises a short cadenza following a passing allusion to operatic recitative. The tonal center in this movement is C-sharp minor.

"Hommage à Edgar Degas" recalls the many splendid paintings celebrating the dance by the eponymous French artist. It alternately features wide leaps and brilliant sextuplet figuration in a-b-a'-c form, with the "a" sections suggesting delicate balletic steps performed "en pointe" while "b" and "c" summon to the imagination bold pirouettes executed with almost superhuman rapidity. Tonally the movement begins in E minor and ends in the parallel major.

Art: William-Adolphe Bouguereau, The Remorse of Orestes (1862). Norfolk, The Chrysler Museum of Art.