Expressions: Piano Music by Kirsten Johnson
I remember making up songs and melodies from an early age, but never actively pursued composition until I was a graduate student, with music theory as my minor. Some of the works on this disc date from that period. I focused on my career as a pianist, but in recent years composition has taken much more of my time and has been a great joy.
The opening piece is one of my most recent, inspired by my recording of Benjamin Carr’s (1768-1831) complete piano works. He wrote a set of Applicazione Addolcita, subtitled Twelve Airs and a Ground, with Variations or arranged as Rondos, Op.6 (1809). These all begin with a short prelude before the rondo or, in some cases, variations. My piece follows Carr’s set of twelve as Applicazione Addolcita No. 13 (2021). Opening with a quiet prelude in A minor, the “Rondo: Toccata” ensues, with octaves reminiscent of Liszt’s Erlkönig underpinning the theme. Two sections are interspersed: the first marked ‘Jocular’, with a rising tune in the left hand; the second, a “Waltz macabre”.
Inspired by Prokofiev’s Visions fugitives, 9 Expressions for Piano (2021) was finished during Covid-19 lockdown, though the opening piece was written in 1990. Expression No. 1 “Dark” is based on an octatonic scale and the Fibonacci sequence. Expression No. 2 “Whimsical” is a bitonal bittersweet waltz, with the left hand in G major and the right in C# minor. Expression No. 3 “Presto: Too many things happening at once, can’t cope and can’t keep up….” utilizes all three octatonic scales. Opening in 2/4, the right hand has fast groups of five figuration against the melody in the left. After building to a climax, the piece starts again but is now expanded in 3/4 time, culminating in a contrary motion scale juxtaposing the second and third octatonic scales. Expression No. 4 “Slow in time and space” is a welcome respite, using parallel seventh chords as a backdrop for a melody which reminds me of empty streets on a cold winter’s night. Expression No. 5 “Moving on different planes, in seemingly different universes” is contrapuntal, with the opening melody developed in a
four-voice fugue. For Expression No. 6 “Fleeting”, I set out to write a piece purely using dyads in seconds, partly inspired by the passagework at the end of Prokofiev’s third piano concerto. The chromatic melody for Expression No. 7 “Quizzical” was taken down in a sketchbook after my daughter asked me a question, and I heard in her inflection this musical line. I always think of her when I play this piece. Expression No. 8 “Leisurely” is based on a tone row and inspired by the first piece of Schoenberg’s Op. 19. Expression No. 9 “Fast”,
which uses quartal harmonies and patterns, brings this set to a close.
Over the years I have found solace in the wonderful Chopin nocturnes I have performed, and my technique and writing has been influenced by learning all twenty-seven Chopin études. Nocturne Semplice (2016) came as a simple melody, one that still moves me every time I play it, with the development of the line in 6ths reflecting Chopin’s Étude, Op 25, No.8.
The next three pieces stand alone, but can also be grouped as a set, “Seasons of Life”.
North Texas (a scherzo for piano) was mostly written in 1989 during my time at the University of North Texas College of Music but completed in 2011. I sketched the opening melody of Reaching out…where are you? in 1996, with the working title “Sadness”, only writing the full piece in 2016. It is introspective, with rich harmonies and three against two patterns supporting the melody above. November Wind (2011) came as I sat down to the piano one day – the opening figuration accompanies a robust melody, followed by a second melody, and then the inversion of that second melody. The material develops in both hands, as the wind swirls and blows.
In the Beginning, Elegy and Rondo can be programmed as “Three Pieces for Piano”, though they each also stand alone. In the Beginning (2006) opens with a quiet, three-note motive, which is repeated in progressively shorter note lengths, ushering in the melody in left-hand octaves. The middle section begins as a canon, which then builds to a return of the first theme. A mirror response to the opening section ends the piece, with fast notes becoming gradually quieter and longer in length. Rondo (1990) is so much fun! It is short, with a brief introduction, then the rondo tune set in parallel inverted triads. The B section has a light melody, with 6/8 and 3/4 meters juxtaposed between the hands. The rondo melody returns, followed by the lyrical C section, with the final rondo section building to a thunderous finish.
The first three pieces and concept of Seven Diatonic Preludes, using only the white notes of the piano, from a single note through to all seven pitches, date from 2007, with the set completed in 2011. One note, C – Solitary, was inspired by a comment made by the pianist Yonty Solomon, when I premiered Raymond Head’s Of Bells and Birds in London, saying ‘there are a lot of Cs’. I felt challenged in response to write a piece purely using the note C, herewith being the result. It is followed by Two notes, C and D – Not alone anymore…., and Three notes – Call, inspired by my research into Albanian folk music and the calls sent across mountains between remote communities. Four Notes – Gigue, pays homage to the many Baroque gigues I have played over the years, and for Five Notes – Waltz, I wrote a set of variations on an original melody. Six Notes – Improvisation, juxtaposes clusters of six white notes against a soloistic right hand, with material developed in free form. Seven Notes –
Poem is not quite a haiku, which is traditionally set in 5-7-5 syllables: my piece has two bars of 5/4 followed by one 7/4. Quartal harmonies open the work, before the melody enters in the lower register. Charles Griffes’ Fountains of the Aqua Paola, which I performed as a teenager, inspired the genesis of the piece. I wrote words for the melody, which are only to be reflected upon and not sung:
In the meadow grows
Tulips, irises
Over time they bloom and die
The second melody enters in full tertial harmonies, using just the white notes of the keyboard, accompanied by sweeping five note groupings. After some development, both melodies are combined, with octave figuration becoming more complex. The opening melody in 5/8 octaves brings the piece to a rousing conclusion.
Elegy (2006, rev. 2020) came from a time when I was reflecting very much on loss and the deep sadness one experiences when losing a loved one. A melody of longing and remembrance opens the work, with the main theme presented freely, colored by low dyads sounding a quiet death knell. The right-hand enters with 16th-note figuration, delicately decorating the melody in the left. Quartal harmonies and parallelism are used as the piece develops, leading to 32 nd -note patterns as accompaniment. The last part is a quiet reflection,
with the yearning melody and bell-like structures finishing this elegy of personal loss. Elegy was transcribed as a piano trio and premiered in Belgium in 2021, with the recording available on my YouTube channel.
