Composition Notes
Étude No. 1 “The Struggle” was first composed in January 2001 but was left unfinished for two months. In April 2001, I took up work on the score again and completed it by the 20th. This is a highly energetic work that challenges the performer’s technical skills. The premiere performance of Étude No. 1 occurred almost exactly a year after it was completed on April 23, 2002.
Étude No. 2 “Shadow Town” is based on a simple 3-note motif (in semitones) that first appears in the lowest registers of the piano and then emerges upwards in a fugal-like manner. The motif is further developed rhythmically & harmonically throughout the piece, like a shadow following the music wherever it goes. At last, the music returns to its tonal center but ends with a dissonant C Major chord featuring both an E and an Eb, symbolizing the strange coexistence of light and darkness. This piece was never performed live. However, in 2025 I created a new orchestral arrangement (see below for audio recording).
This score has been released under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. The music may be freely copied and redistributed in any medium or format. As well, new arrangements of this work can be created and shared. However, the material can not be used for commercial purposes.
Instrumentation
- Piano
