Prelude in Lydian Mode

Description

Alexei Stanchinsky (1888-1914) was a Russian composer who studied with Taneyev, among others, and wrote music exploring harmonies and rhythms of his own, but he died in his mid-twenties. Most of his works are for piano, and the Prelude in Lydian Mode shows one side of that exploration.

The Lydian mode is one of the church modes; it is a major scale with the fourth degree raised a semitone, and it has a floating sound that is neither major nor minor. This prelude lasts about 6 minutes 59 seconds yet contains only 1,184 notes, fewer than three per second, so the writing is spacious. The range covers six octaves, from C1 up to C-sharp 7, well beyond a 61-key keyboard at both ends.

It is rated intermediate. The note count is modest, but because the music unfolds slowly across a wide range, it calls for careful pedalling to sustain the sonority and the concentration to wait out the time between notes. Modal writing takes a while to settle in the ear, so listen to the playback first to grasp the sound, then practise section by section with the A-B loop. Use the hand colours to see who takes what where the hands move far apart.

A collection of preludes not tied to a specific set, featuring short, evocative works by composers from Bach to more modern voices.