Prismatic Blues

for piano solo 
Duration: 9:30

First performance : December 13, 1997 in the Ijsbreker in Amsterdam
commissioned and performed by Marcel Worms, piano

Program Notes

In ‘Primary Blue’ a four note motive forms the basis of the melodic development in the piece.  This motive ondergoes continual modulations and uses rhythms taken from a number of typical boogie-woogie patterns.  The form uses the classical 12-bar blues in a free manner.

‘Indigo’ is based on a polytonale blues pattern with a somewhat static character.  Between each repetition of the pattern, however,   one or more notes of the theme is changed harmonically, resulting in a transformation of the material into something new.

In ‘The Prussian Boogie’,  I was interested in considering the influence of  broken triad patterns in the European classical tradition on the early blues in the United States.  

I layered various motoric patterns from Sonate op. 54 by Beethoven on those used by the blues pianist, Otis Span, in the song  “Run, run, run, baby, but you can’t hide”.    The resulting rhythms and  polyrhythms are also grouped in phrases of different lengths.

‘The Prussian Boogie’  also draws on transitional sequences from the second movement of Op. 54,  which were paired with a 3-2-3 bass pattern from the stride piano master,  James P. Johnson.

This piece was supported by the Dutch composition  fund/ het fonds voor de scheppende toonkunst