Summer Hymn - Solo Piano

Ensemble: Solo Piano

Duration: 5-6’

Written: Summer 2022

Program Note:

After reading through a Bach chorale, I like to inflate every eighth note the length of a half note, and improvise (Think Andante, Quarter = 75). This context allows one to appreciate all of the smaller details, even if it means ("breaking the rules" by) re-articulating tied notes and dissonances, in spite of any boos and hisses from the cops in our heads. On July 2, 2022, I found a copy of Bach's 371 Chorales in the University of Rhode Island's (renowned) free sheet music bin, took it to the concert hall piano, and opened up to a random page. I found Chorale 307:

Since that day, it remains one of my favorite chorales in the collection, with its constant deviations from expectation. This chorale sets us up in E Major and immediately changes course; each cadential decision twists, with almost half of the cadences followed by the VI chord (F Major) without ever sounding stale. Ending 307's long harmonic journey with a half cadence, Bach’s final fermata leaves the listener with solace for the unanswerable.

Immediately after playing the chorale that day, I recorded the improvisation that became this piece. I worked out the mechanics of Summer Hymn save a couple of sections (ex. Ms. 43-46, Ms. 51-65). The chorale inspired me to work pragmatically with the motifs, developing them in harmonically unexpected ways.

I later considered adding electronics to the work, but the pianist deserves more performance liberties than fixed media can offer. It shines best as an acoustic work. But what is the "hymn" in question? Distilling the piece down to something you might find in a hymnal, we have the following unison congregation melody:

As best I could, I tried to sing that summer's feeling into the piano: wind gusts through familiar landscapes teeming with life and my navigating the end of several housing changes. Many of us were also returning to in-person events with layered precautions, despite our government downplaying covid as an "endemic" that year. Ever since that day in July, I have felt awe and gratitude to experience such an uninterrupted, delicate, and unplanned musical moment.