solo piano (about 18 minutes)

When writing Etudes for Piano, Book 1 (2008) for Caleb Harris, he suggested that I focus on virtuosity itself rather than necessarily highlighting different techniques. However, each of the etudes ended up with a different technical focus. The first etude is the longest and has the most variety of styles and textures, although parallel chord movement in each hand and contrary motion between hands is a recurring theme. The slow lyrical second etude strengthens the fourth and fifth fingers of the right hand, which usually carry the melody. The third etude focuses on both hands playing in octaves to each other, featuring jagged rhythms and intervals. The motivic fourth etude blazes by with 582 notes played in just under one minute. In contrast, the fifth etude is slower and sounds more like an autumn breeze, featuring flowing grace note passagework. The cycle ends with a roaring rag.

Score available for purchase from J.W. Pepper.