Keane Southard
Prelude No. 9 (Guante-ango) For Piano
(2012) (Duration: c. 1 min.)
Program notes: Prelude No.9, like my Prelude No. 3, is an exploration of piano glissandi using a glove on one hand. This time, I use it in the context of a tango, written in response to a “call for scores” by Vox Novus for one-minute modern tangos. The musical material is based upon a rock song that I wrote when I was younger. The title combines the Spanish word for “glove” (“guante”) with the word tango. Keane Southard 2012
Performance instructions: 1. Unless otherwise indicated, the damper pedal should be used discreetly to allow for maximum clarity. 2. The pianist must wear a glove, that will slide on the keys with little friction, on their right hand for the entire piece. It also must have separate finger sheaths (not a mitten) so that the pianist can still play single notes and non-cluster chords occasionally (yet exclusively on the black-keys). A fingerless glove can work as well. 3. The top two staves are reserved for the right hand, while the lowest staff is for the left hand.
4. There are three different kinds of glissandi used in this piece: white-key, black-key, and chromatic (black and white-key). White-key glissandi are indicated by a large natural sign at approximately the midpoint of the glissando line, black-key glissandi are indicated with a large sharp sign at the same spot, and chromatic glissandi are indicated with both a natural and sharp sign. There is also a key on the upper-left corner of the first page of the score to clarify this as well. 5. A note with a triangle note-head indicates the highest pitch possible on the instrument. A cluster of triangle note-heads indicates the highest cluster possible. 6. Notes inside parentheses indicate that it is the approximate pitch to begin or end a glissando. 7. All clusters are indicated by a thick black line. White-key clusters are indicated by a large natural sign in front of them, and black-key clusters by a large sharp sign. “Sim.” indicates that successive clusters are the same in terms of their black/white-ness. In addition, all clusters, are approximate in their pitches and should be performed in the general register indicated. 8. Notes with “x” noteheads indicate a snap of the fingers for the left (non-gloved) hand only.
Keane Southard/Spindrift Pages Email: keane.southard@hotmail.com Website: keanesouthard.instantencore.com
§ = white-key glissando #= black-key glissando §# = chromatic glissando
{
l.h.
5
Keane Southard
snap fingers (l.h. only)
p
(Guante-ango)
(highest note possible)
fff dramatic
gliss .
{
r.h. (with glove)
q = 100
Prelude No. 9
§#
3 3 mp (highest cluster possible) 8 # §# § # p p fff # # sfz sfz # p p sfz sfz 3
(catch the overtones) ©2012
2
sfz
11
p
#
mf
5
13
fff
§
§
mf
(sim.)
fff
#
mf
f
§#
mf
mf
f
(senza ped!)
10
10
mf
#
(sim.)
(sim.) §#
(sim.)
15
p
sfz
#
5
pp
pp
5
18
20
sffz
22
3
10
§#
§# §# sffz
sffz
sffz
§#
ff ff
3
3
3
4 23
fff
fff
§#
§# ffff
ffff (this note, and the end of the gliss, should be one octave lower if played on a Bösendorfer)
0'58"