Praeludium (Waterhouse)

Praeludium (Prelude), Op. 32, is a piece for piano by Graham Waterhouse, composed in 1992 and published by Lienau in 2002. The virtuoso composition has been played in concert internationally, and was recorded.

Praeludium
Piano piece by Graham Waterhouse
The composer in 2011
Catalogue	Op. 32
Period	contemporary
Composed	1992
Published	2002

History

Waterhouse composed the piano piece in 1992.[1][2] It premiered in London in 1993. Praeludium was published by Lienau in 2002.[1] The duration is given as six minutes.[3] A 2005 review in Neue Musikzeitung, comparing newly published music for pianists, described the piece as "a dramatic concert piece with gushing figurations, lyrical insertions, polyphonic elements, harmonic refinement and a purposefully intensified enormous conclusion" ("... dramatisches Konzertstück mit sprudelnden Figurationen, lyrischen Einschüben, polyphonen Elementen, harmonischen Raffinessen und einem zielstrebig gesteigerten, enormen Schluss").[3]

Music

Praeludium is written in one movement, in common time, marked Allegro agitato.[4] A rhythmic-chromatic theme is contrasted by a lyrical one, culminating in a virtuoso coda.[1]

Recording and performance

The cover of the published music of Praeludium shows the composer's signature. It was included in overviews of his work on CD and concert. It was recorded in 2001 as the first piece of Portrait, a selection of the composer's chamber music by Cybele Records, played by Michael Wendeberg. The CD also includes compositions such as Three Pieces for Solo Cello and the trio Gestural Variations.[5] Reviewer Hubert Culot described it as brilliant and virtuoso.[6] Christopher White played the piece to open a composer portrait concert at the Gasteig in Munich on 11 April 2010.[7] The program also featured vocal music including the premiere of Im Gebirg, a song setting a poem by Hans Krieger, and a selection from Piano Album.[7] The piece was part of programs on the occasion of the composer's 50th birthday in London, Munich and Frankfurt, featuring performances of chamber music by members of the Munich Philharmonic. A review in the Süddeutsche Zeitung of the concert at the Gasteig on 4 November 2012 was titled "Hochexpressiv" (Highly expressive). Reinhard Palmer wrote in the magazine Neue Musikzeitung, that Valentina Babor played Praeludium with bracchial thunder.[8]

References

1. "Praeludium". Schott (in German). Retrieved 23 October 2018.
2. "Praeludium". Graham Waterhouse. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
3. Elsner, Andreas (May 2005). "Von weißen Ochsen und blinden Kühen / Neue Notenausgaben für Pianistinnen und Pianisten kurz durchgesehen". Neue Musikzeitung (in German). Retrieved 23 October 2010.
4. "Waterhouse Graham Praeludium op. 32". musikalienhandel.de (in German). Retrieved 18 February 2018.
5. "Portrait Graham Waterhouse / Graham Waterhouse, Markus Schön, Michael Wendeberg, Agnès Marc" (in German). Cybele Records. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
6. Culot, Hubert (2004). "Graham Waterhouse". musicweb-international.com. Retrieved 12 April 2010.
7. "Komponisten-Matinee: Graham Waterhouse". Gasteig. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
8. Palmer, Reinhard (14 November 2012). "Beliebter Außenseiter: der Cellist und Komponist Graham Waterhouse feierte seinen 50. Geburtstag" (in German). Retrieved 16 November 2012.