Prelude No. 23 in F

Описание: The penultimate prelude in this set. Even though this one in F is the shortest, it still manages to pack in a lot of technique throughout. When I started writing this, I imagined the adagio section of a symphony. The dotted half notes that hold the piece down at the beginning are almost harp-like chords. The trills and eleventh notes are almost flute-like. The tempo is slow at 35 BPM for each dotted half note. Unfortunately, because of the 7/8 and 9/8 measures, the performer needs to really practice the beginning at 210 BPM for each eighth note.

The song structure is a little more free / improvised. There are some odd time signatures and thirteenth or fourteenth note flourishes, but they sounded right as I was writing. The theme starts with F, F#dim7, Bbm and then F, F#dim7, Gm. The trills and undecuplet sixteenth notes are played lightly but in time. The measure of 9/8 pauses on C7. But instead of resolving to F, it moves to A7(#5) before finally landing on D major.

At a slightly slower tempo, the variation of the theme is introduced but with more structure. The placement of melody's eighth notes on the upbeat combined with the odd time signatures make the section sound natural. The A7(#5) section appears again but instead of going to Cm and D like the intro, it moves to Bb6 and Bbm6. For the key of F, the V chord (C major) is usually used to resolve to the tonic. I didn't use this at all in this piece with the exception of two measures here (measures 29 and 30). It is a simple, single note melody but the implied chord is C.

The outro progression begins over F9 and C7, then F9 and Bbmaj7. The triplet sixteenth note run requires passing the 5th finger over the thumb. I specifically recall a Hanon exercise built around this same technique. A scale over Bbm6 and Bbdim7 runs up before ending with the final Fmaj9 chord.