la touche sonore sous l’eau (2016)
for solo piano, 8 minutes.
This work was premiered on January 27, 2016 by Marilyn Nonken (pictured) in Philadelphia, PA and European Premiere in 2018 in Paris.
Score published by and available from PSNY
Commercial recording available from New Focus Recordings.
A two piano version was premiered in Tokyo Japan in 2019 and is available upon request.
Program Note:
“la touche sonore sous l’eau” is based on my extended study of Debussy’s Jeux, or to be more precise, a harmonic/melodic reduction and re-understanding of his compositional lightness. I don’t actually quote Jeux anywhere in the piece, but it has inspired a new way to write for the piano , combining piano resonant harmonies and voicings with a sensitivity to dynamics and layerings that lead to the title ‘la touche sonore.’ I first explored this approach in “Sub-merge” for piano and winds.