Études 2023
date completed
2023
duration
23'
scored for
solo piano
commission
Music Academy of the West
premiere
July 2023
I. Clear, resonant
II. Rippling
III. Steady, quiet
IV. Pulsing
V. Rippling
VI. Steady, with a full sound
VII. Clear, resonant
Program Note by Samuel Adams
This set of études was written for a premiere at Music Academy of the West by six pianists who alternated playing each separate movement. With this in mind, Samuel Adams found that “the challenge in writing the piece was to create a set of short pieces that could both work as strung together in a seamless performance with multiple pianists as well as with one pianist doing the whole thing.” This challenge led Adams to compose a long-form take on the traditionally short forms of études, or musical studies.
With this work, rather than compiling seven unrelated technical studies, Adams writes each movement in sets of corresponding pairs: 1 with 7, 2 with 5, and 3 with 6. Études 1 and 7 focus on the nuances of resonance and pedaling, while 2 and 5 “challenge the pianist to create a sustained, rippling, and polyrhythmic surface above a river of constantly shifting harmonies.” Études 3 and 6 explore the interaction of contrapuntal lines that expand and contract over an unpredictable bass line. This leaves the lone middle movement, étude 4, which “stands alone as the only movement without a twin, showcasing the extreme dynamic range of the piano. It consists of a series of brightly hued bell-like gestures that hover over an almost imperceptibly quiet pulse, serving as the keystone of the seven-movement arch.”
Because the movements are performed seamlessly without pause, the overarching form of the piece becomes that of large mirror image, with étude 4 at its center. This creates, in essence, one large étude in itself that “goes beyond the material and individual technical challenges and becomes, in addition, a study in long-form structure.”
This set of Études was commissioned by Music Academy of the West. The first performance was given by the Piano Fellows of the Music Academy on July 17, 2023 at Hahn Hall, Santa Barbara, CA.
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press
"Adams’ new solo piano piece, Etudes, is a jewel of another sheen — instigated by pianist Hanick, for whom Adams wrote a concerto premiered last year. Hanick asked Adams to write etudes for his students at the Music Academy, and the composer instead created a large “etude” based on almost symmetrical small etudes forming an arch. Precise dynamic shadings and contrasts, and subtly subversive agendas, simmer beneath the easy-on-the-ears countenance of the piece, such as the tolling flatted second interval pricking the calm surface of the finale “Clear, resonant” etude. The world’s harsher aspects won’t go away, even in a soothing mist of resonant clarity."
The Santa Barbara Independent ↗
