Sean Friar
COME AGAIN for two pianos Commissioned by HOCKET Piano Duo (Sarah Gibson and Thomas Kotcheff)
DURATION: 10 MINUTES
PROGRAM NOTES Most of us have had the experience of visiting a foreign country whose language we think we know, only to find upon our arrival that the natives speak so we quickly we aren’t able to follow most of what they say. We often resort to asking them to slow down, repeat certain words, or use simpler language in order to better understand what they are trying to communicate. This seems to work well with some languages and poorly with others, and of course, only some speakers are good at – or care to– accommodate these requests. Come Again takes these kinds of experiences as the inspiration for much of its musical material – the piece is largely comprised of short bursts extremely fast, densely textured gestures for which it is almost impossible to catch everything in a single go. Sometimes the piece is good about teaching you the material by slowing down, simplifying its ideas, or breaking itself down into smaller chunks of intelligible material; other times, though, it leaves the listener to do the best it can with a blitz of information.
TECHNICAL NOTES Texture Much of the piece involves the performers playing in different registers at the same time, and at starkly different dynamics (particularly common is to have louder music in the middle register, and quiet and extremely fast music in the top). In cases like these, make sure you are playing at the indicated dynamic even if it is quite different from what your partner is playing – the two performers are often not meant to be balanced with each other in the traditional sense, but instead are acting more like quiet overtones or noise over the “main” musical idea that the performer with louder music is playing. Sustain Pedal Sustain pedal may be used freely when pedal indications are not given. When specific pedal instructions are given (or if “no pedal” is indicated), please follow the instructions precisely. Tempo All tempo changes are indicated. Tempo remains exactly the same from section to section unless otherwise instructed. Unless stated otherwise, all rhythms should be exact – rubato or any laxness with rhythm should be used very sparingly. Grace notes All grace notes are before the beat and as fast as possible (i.e. extremely close to the beat). Repeats All repeat are taken once (i.e. the measure is played two times total), unless a “3X” is written, which indicates the measure is played three times total.
Copyright © 2016 by Sean Friar Music (ASCAP)