Three Studies and a Meditation

Misha Swersey

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2024

24 min.

Piano

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Program Notes: For my final project as a Juilliard student, I decided that I wanted to solely focus on writing extensively for my own instrument: piano. Having mostly composed for chamber ensembles and other instruments throughout my undergraduate studies, I realized that my last semester would be the perfect opportunity to take a deep dive into the instrument that has single-handedly been the most invaluable contributor toward my musical development. I started playing the piano when I was 5 years old, and although my main focus shifted to composition starting in high school, I still find the piano to be an integral tool for my own writing process, and it will always remain a huge part of my own identity as an artist. Three Studies and a Meditation comprises four total studies. The first one, Jumping for Joy, was written for my dear friend Joy Redmond, who premiered it for her master’s recital in April 2023. Quintillionth is an etude that primarily revolves around the musical interval of a fifth. What started off as a simple progression of fifths moving in contrary motion ended up becoming the basis of this study’s harmonic language, and the progression is reiterated throughout the piece in several different transformations. boundless time, boundless breath is an opportunity to just breathe, let the mind unwind, and become immersed in its feeling of boundlessness: characterized by several series of repeating notes and fragments that can make time seem almost infinite and nonexistent at once. Repulsion is the culmination of this set of studies. The piece is solely focused on the act and feeling of repulsion, in both the physical and emotional definitions of the word. There are two opposing forces at play. Firstly there is more free-flowing, quasi-improvisatory material that is harmonically grounded. On the contrary, this is juxtaposed with more harmonically ambiguous and heavily syncopated material that’s meant to emulate the feeling of being physically repelled or pulled away from something. Throughout the study, it will feel as if both the left and right hands sound somewhat out of sync at times, further underscoring its repulsive nature.
Ensemble Name: Ruogu Wen, piano