David Jennings

Prelude and Fugue op. 6

This is strikingly different in style to all my other piano music to date. Employing twelve-note procedures throughout, it is to some degree a response to newer musical influences encountered at university. The Prelude was composed in 1992 and was originally intended to stand on its own. In 1999 I decided to add a Fugue, having been impressed by Bach's Prelude and Fugue in A minor from Book 2 of his '48 Preludes and Fugues'. Unfortunately, however, I had to put the work to one side in order to concentrate on other projects. The Fugue remained unfinished until 2010, when, having found it amongst my papers, I finally added the last two pages!
The Prelude explores the sonority of the instrument, especially with regard to the sustaining pedal. This movement combines twelve-note procedures with jazz-inflected harmony and juxtaposes lyrical ideas with more aggressive ones. The Fugue has a tense, slightly ironic feel about it and ends with a strongly assertive stretto section (where the fugal entries overlap). The work is dedicated to the composer Gary Higginson, a pupil of Edmund Rubbra.
Duration about 5 1/2 minutes - 12 pages - Difficulty: Recital level