Thursday, August 21, 2014

Prelude in B Minor


This thing originated around the time of my previously posted B Major Prelude. In fact, I started this one first and abandoned it in favor of the B Major idea that came out of it; despite the major/minor difference, the 2/4 vs. 3/8 time signature, and a slight difference in tempo, they share the same underlying motif of repeated 16th notes. Last week, I came across what I had done with this -- the first 12 bars, plus the first note of the next -- and within a couple hours got a little past halfway, but wasn't yet sure about the rest of it, or whether I'd even be finishing it any time soon. But Friday morning, before going to work, I decided to look it over and listen to what I had, and suddenly saw the way to the end. Fortunately, work didn't push it out of my head, and I was able to sketch out the remaining structure Friday evening, and filled in (most of) the remaining detail the next day. While listening on Sunday, I heard some spots where the left hand (and in the "reversed hands" passage, the right) could do something interesting without creating clutter, and so it was done. But Monday, I heard something right before the final chord and so fancied it up a bit. By the time I got up Tuesday morning, though, I decided that the original eighth note thing was better than the fancier idea, so changed it back and cleaned up some dynamics and phrasing (although I'm still not entirely decided on exactly which notes right before the end should be staccato). So, it's been done for a few days; the delay in posting is due to another new piece demanding my attention, combined with the hassle of having to turn it into a video in order to post it here. This one's a bit more user friendly than my previous posting, so no warnings needed here: