“3. Gloomy,” from Moods for Piano, by Lettie Beckon Alston
The Four Moods for Piano were composed in 1993. The third piece is marked “sweet and singing, rubato always.” Frequent rhythmic interruptions make it difficult to be always singing, although there are chromatic, Chopin-like groups of notes that are more lyrical. This piece has many different gestures and it is important to have good timing between them. It would be a musically challenging piece to play because the character and articulation changes often. It also uses mutes. A student would learn how to transition well between contrasting elements.
There is a section marked “dance-like” which starts with a 5/4 measure and continues in 4/4. The person has to be adaptable in finding a dance rhythm even though the meter is not consistent. Another challenging part is the section marked “cadenza like” at the end. There are a lot of flowing notes that the player would find small gestures in, and then repeated muted notes. The main challenge of this piece is the amount of contrast that happens in a short space.
Lettie Beckon Alston was born in Detroit in 1953. She received her doctorate in composition from the University of Michigan. She composes for orchestra, piano, voice, strings, and other instruments as well as synthesizers and electronically produced sounds.
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