Fabio Grasso
12 Études triptyques pour piano, 2018
© Fabio Grasso
This collection contains 12 Etudes, divided into 3
groups.
GROUP A - Intervalles
Etudes of instrumental virtuosity, traditionally
connected with the intervals.
A1 - Secondes, Neuvièmes (Seconds, Ninths)
A2 - Tierces, Sixtes
(Thirds, Sixths)
A3 - Quartes, Quintes (Fourths, Fifths)
A4 - Octaves
GROUP B - Harmonies
Etudes characterized by particular types of harmonic
organization
B1 - En blanc et noir (In white and black)
B2 - Dodécaphonie tricordale (Trichordal
Dodecaphony)
B3 - Dodécaphonie triadique (Triadic Dodecaphony)
B4 - Quadriades (Quadriads)
GROUP C - Von heimatlichen Ländern und Tönen
Etudes that mainly explore the sonorities, with free
inspiration (see below)
C1 - Terres d'eau (Waterlands)
C2 - Florentia
C3 - Une barque ... à travers les ... brouillards (A boat ... through the ... mists)
C4 - Sous le regard de
Sainte Croix (Under the glance of Sainte Croix)
As a general rule, the interpreter must play at least
one "triptych", formed by one Etude of the Group A, one Etude of the
Group B and one Etude of the Group C, in any order and combination, without
breaks, like an unique piece.
The interpreter can choose to play 1 or 2 or 3 or 4
triptychs; therefore one will play 3, 6, 9 or all 12 Etudes, and not single
Etudes nor quantities different from the multiples of 3.
Of course it is not allowed to repeat any Etude - each
triptych has to contain different Etudes.
The music and the titles of this work show, openly or criptically, several homages to
the tradition of the Etudes, from Chopin and Liszt through Debussy, Skrjabin and Rachmaninov to Ligeti, and to a certain 20th-century French repertoire
(above all Debussy and Ravel, but also Messiaen and Ohana).
It is easy to understand the compositional principles
of the Etudes of the Group A (in which the reminiscences of Chopin, Liszt,
Ravel and Skrjabin are sometimes clearly
perceivable), as well as those of B4 (whose tissue is exclusively composed by
four-sound aggregations, more or less recognizable as historical chords), and
of B1, that lives on the relations between the harmonic fields defined by the
opposition of white and black keys.
The twelve-tone sets of B3 and B2 are respectively
founded on 4 triads (two minor and two major, with the fundamental notes at the
distance of one tone) and 4 trichords, whose three
notes are likewise at the distance of one tone (an Italian 20th-century compositional
school named "trichordal" the harmonic
system based on this element).
The general title of the Group C is a paraphrase of
the first title of Schumann's Kinderszenen ("Von fremden Ländern und Menschen",
"From foreign lands and men"). The variation "Von heimatlichen Ländern und Tönen", that can be translated "From home- lands
and tones", reflects the link of the inspiration of these four Etudes with
some places, very special for the life, the formation and the activity of the
author: for C1 the apparently uniform countryside around Vercelli,
for C2 the florentine hills (with its double meaning
the Latin word Florentia represents both the ancient
name of Florence and a description of the flowery writing), for C3 the Venetian
landscape shrouded in mist (the title mixes three Ravel's
and Debussy's titles, "Une barque sur l'océan", "Cloches à travers les feuilles"
and "Brouillards"; so the piece is entirely
built on quotations of these works).
As regards C4, Sainte Croix is the cathedral of Orléans, that dominates the space near the Conservatory,
where the International Piano Competition takes place.
The Etude (the longest piece of the collection) aims
to evoke the memory of this majestic two-towers sacred building, whose austere
and mysterious outline, at times almost frightening, at times protective,
deeply fascinated the composer during his stays in the French city.
So this series of Etudes as a whole is dedicated to
the founder of the Competition, Françoise Thinat.