Paisaje / Landscape (from "Six Sketches for the Toccata-Homage to Manuel de Falla")

For Piano


Commentary
Recording

Commentary

This piece was written in 1995 on commission from Colien Honegger, for the collection of pedagogical piano pieces titled "Colien's Album". The piece presents the differentiated development of two juxtaposed ideas:

1) The first idea is developed mostly in the extreme ranges of the piano's register and consists of a series of 12 notes systematically distributed between both hands:

Right hand: C B E F♯ D A♭
Left hand: A D♯ B G C♯ F

This series is not presented immediately but takes shape slowly throughout the piece (system 1: first, two notes; then three; then four; then five. System 2: first, six notes; then eight notes. System 4: first, 9 notes; then 10. Between the ff and sffz of system 5, the complete series is reached, and until the end, like a resonance, only the last two notes (one in each hand) remain, gradually fading away. Note that from the second half of the piece, the repetitions of the series converge towards the center of the register.

2) Alternating with the development of the previous idea, another different idea takes shape, situated in the central register of the piano, seeking a timbral contrast between the two. This idea also consists of a series of 12 sounds, of which 9 are different and 3 are repeated -in parentheses- (missing D, E♭, and A).

Right hand: E F♯ G C♯ (F♯) C
Left hand: G♯ B♭ B F (B♭) E

This idea makes a first escape from the center to the high register at the end of the third system, and a second from the center to the extreme registers, where it connects with the complete presentation of the previous series, forming a single unified idea. From that point to the end, the central register is regained, blending with the resonance of the previous idea.

Recording

Recording: Ananda Sukarlan