A Nocturne for piano

• Date: 1995
• Composer: Linda Catlin Smith
• Period: Contemporary (1950- )

Review

Pianist Eve Egoyan, who also first recorded the 12-minute score, commissioned this spare and cerebral work for solo piano. Its language seems reminiscent of Feldman's work for piano insofar as it is a quiet piece that emphasizes the expressive effect of decaying notes. As well, Smith also uses register in a longer range, connecting capacity; the notes prepare the listener for chords that have no reference to the earlier material except that they contain notes in registers that have already been established because they have already been heard repeatedly. Very little happens in this score, and yet it is riveting. The composer said that as she was composing it, the material seemed to be disappearing. In this way the music is quite unique; from the beginning the intervallic choices available get smaller rather than larger. As the choices decay, the few available options account for decisions that are especially comprehensible and resourceful. When the score is reduced to only a few intervals, Smith chooses perform a limited melody in unison from the extreme ends of the piano. This melody is broken up by another melody in the middle, which grows from the periphery of the soundscape to the focus of the listener's attention. Soon this process is reversed, and the middle melody begins to be broken up by high-end notes. And throughout the work, the sound of decaying notes, the resonance from the previous passage is the backdrop upon which sit the current lines being performed. The nocturnal quality of the music is in its will to repose, its anti-vitality. There is something about it that seems constantly about to entirely run out of steam, but in the way it continues, achingly, there is a romantic, slumbery, magic. ~ John Keillor, Rovi

Albums with Complete Performances of the Work

Title	Date
New Music for Piano	1999

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