Piano Suite

Performed by Füreya Ünal, piano

Instrumentation: Solo piano

Duration: ca. 15 minutes

Movements:
I. Forgotten Waltz
II. Quarrelsome Tango
III. Quintal Sarabande
IV. Finale – Tarantella

Year composed: 2005

Place composed: Fullerton, CA

Program Notes: This was the first piece AJ wrote as a composition major at Cal State Fullerton, and each dance movement pays homage to a particular composer’s style or techniques: the first to Olivier Messiaen with his birdsong techniques, chord structures and added-note rhythms; the second to George Crumb with his extended techniques utilizing the inside of the piano; the third to György Ligeti with his techniques of strict imitative canon; and the fourth to John Adams and Steve Reich with their minimalist style of short cells of notes repeated many times undergoing gradual processes of change.