Ezequiel Vinao Etudes

études (book I)

for piano solo (1993)

The most significant characteristic of the étude as a form has been the structuring of the musical discourse around a specific instrumental challenge. In the better realized examples this generative process served as much a preparatory purpose as it was an artistic decision in its own right. At the end of the 20th century, composers were exploring new discourses and it seemed necessary to expand the notion of mechanical difficulty to include, for example, the metric and rhythmic challenges found in modern scores. In fact, to prepare an artist's mind as well as his fingers. But it is also true that the difficulties to be surmounted in these six pieces are, to a great extent, a reflection of the musical -rather than instrumental- concerns particular to my syntax at that time: these were compositional studies that looked for effective ways to integrate rhythmic development and complex harmonic structures without rendering the process too obscure to follow.
The collection begins with an étude that requires the player to feel the beat as a product of different ratios. This is called a polyrhythm. The right hand is asked to play two voices: one subdivides the common beat in fours while the other subdivides it in sixes (four against six). Then, the left hand comes in with a subdivision of fives. As the piece progresses, the beat itself is subject to change allowing for different polyrhythms as well as metric displacement to occur.
The second étude gives the “repeated notes” to the left hand. The overall texture is rendered fluid through the use of another polyrhythm this time five against four.
The étude in trills, number three, is a slow theme with two variations punctuated by virtuosic cadences. The first variation introduces the trills, fixed in the middle register, alternating between hands. In the second variation, the trills begin to move. The theme itself is characterized by an asymmetric use of seven against five.
The fourth étude, “in octaves”, follows a well known pattern: fast-slow-fast. The fast sections incorporate legato octave playing as well as jumps, chords and trills that demand utmost stamina from the pianist.
The “endurance” étude, number five, is a transcription of the third movement from the second book of El Simurgh, my trilogy for instruments and computers. The piece is a motto perpetuo, basically canonic and marked by crossed accentuation.
The last number in the series exploits the possibility of playing both a melody and its accompaniment with one hand by means of accenting individual notes of a broken chord.
- Ezequiel Viñao

ezequiel viñao

(audio samples)