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Sonatas, Sonatinas, and Suites for Piano, Vol. II

by Nathan Fivecoate

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Wasted Score 11:25
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Bipolar Wood 03:33
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Hurricane 03:52
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about

This album is a sampling of piano compositions composed over the years, from as far back as 2000. Although these were originally composed as standalone pieces, in more recent years I've taken to grouping these together based either on era composed, or in one instance, a grouping that just makes sense musically.

The groupings:
Tracks 1-5
This first grouping contains compositions written between 2000 and 2003. This was the era of first exploring piano music. I had been taking piano lessons, studying the likes of J.S. Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven (particularly some of their easiest compositions), as well as Claude Debussy and Norman Dello Joio, a 20th-century American composer. In my Beethoven studies, I was particularly interested in Sonata form (not that I understood it yet as such), specifically how the music changed keys and how it stayed in the same key when the opening material repeated in the latter part of the composition. Later, a friend invited me to a pair of concerts in the span of a couple months titled "Keyboard Conversations" by Jeffrey Siegel. These particular concerts focused very much on late-19th-century and early-20th century compositions and introduced me to George Gershwin's keyboard works. The pieces in this first group reflects the Classical compositions that influenced me during this time, and will be described in further detail in the individual tracks.

Tracks 6-13 (which could also be grouped in two: tracks 6-9, and tracks 10-13)
This next grouping contains compositions written between 2005 and 2010 (or 2005-2007 and 2008-2010 respectively, if subdivided according to the above). These were the years I was in college (and a little after college) studying music composition. Although all the compositions on this list were written outside of class/lessons, the music studied in school, as well as the musical experiences had outside of class, had a profound influence on the pieces written during this time. I gained a solid understanding on Sonata form, as well as all the other major Classical forms used, and gained a much greater understanding on the approach I needed to take in order to write well. Although I certainly agree that there is a place for "through-composed" music, I've come to also agree on the importance of having a form and/or concept when writing. The first few years post-college was also a time of continued exploration of different ways of approaching writing music, most of which is not included on this album.

Tracks 14-15
This last grouping contains compositions written years apart, but were put together in this order on a previous Bandcamp album. I've tended to like pieces that modulate from a minor key to its parallel major key, and these two pieces do just that. I also include these tracks on this album because, from a conceptual standpoint as well as a musical standpoint, I really like these two pieces.

As a final note, several of these tracks were also released as live tracks on my album "Without Words [Live Performance]", a concert given at Uncommon Ground in Chicago on November 26, 2017 and posted here on Bandcamp on October 8, 2018. Feel free to check those out as well.

credits

released February 9, 2024

license

all rights reserved

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