Les ciels de Kigali (2016)
Piano Prelude, homage a Claude Debussy, 3 1/2 minutes.

For returned piano (C3, Eb4, A4, F#5 all a quarter tone lower- the same tuning at Grisey’s Vortex Temporum). Can be performed on equal tuned piano.

This work was commissioned by Marilyn Nonken for the Vortex Temporum Revisited Project. Premiered May 19 (Tufts University, Boston) and 23 (Roulette NYC), 2016.

Program Note:

Les ciels de Kigali is based on my impressions of the amazing sky I see all day long from my balcony in Kigali where I composed this piece.  Kigali is right on the equator and we have these beautiful rolling hills everywhere.  Unlike NYC living, the sky in Kigali takes up vasts amount of the visual field in all daily activities.  It looks and feels incredibly still all day, however, the cloud is subtlety chainging formation (even when there is no wind) and massive rains hit and disappear back to clear skies in a matter of minutes, often while the sun is still shining.  This prelude captures a few musical snapshots of the different formations, from bright stillness to cloudy calmness and dramatic outbursts of rain.

This is the first in a series of piano preludes, written for Marilyn Nonken.