Prelude No. 19 in Eb

Описание: I wrote the first 8 bars of this prelude as an idea back in 2007 or so. I definitely would have forgotten it but I happened to be recording another song at the time so I was able to capture it. The structure and feel for this prelude are a little more traditional than the others. Whenever composing a piano piece that requires crossing the left hand over the right, the main challenge is to keep the piece flowing and for it to sound completely natural. The mechanics of playing the piece should not affect the user that is listening. The F#m prelude that I composed takes these mechanics to the extreme and is consistent throughout that piece. In this Eb prelude, it is much easier.

The main melody drives the chord changes in Eb, Fm and Bb. The melody moves through an Abm progression before repeating the main theme in C. After pausing on Eb11/Bb, the piece chromatically moves down to the contrast section of Ebm.

This contrast section speeds along with 16th notes in the left hand. Because of the key, the scales are challenging, especially at that speed. Practicing the left hand slowly at almost half speed is needed in order to work up to the 60 BPM for half notes in each measure. The left hand should be quieter and restrained. But as the dynamics indicate, the performance becomes more urgent.

After back and forth between Eb and E, the piece builds up to Eb, Cb and Bb. If you survive the punishing scales for the left hand then you are rewarded with an accelerated tempo to the Ebm hits and flourishes. These are easier to play than they sound. Straight after is the Ebm to Abm to Ab7 to A7 build up. The left hand gallops along and requires stretching the fingers to almost tenths. Those performers with smaller hands might have to change this to single notes or changing the bottom note to an octave instead of a tenth.

Finally the build up of the the contrast section culminates in a grandiose and dark thundering Abm section. Like a storm that finally clears, the piece lightly progresses to the initial theme. There is a variation of the theme with quick scales sandwiched in between the melody notes. Again, these are to be played very lightly. The continued tempo changes slow down the piece slightly until the long pause on Bb as the arpeggiated right hand lightly rains down. The piece ends with a back and forth between Eb and Ebm before finally ending.