24 Preludes

Program Notes

The prelude, originally an improvisatory form, evolved into a standalone genre over the course of music history. While it was often used to introduce larger works, composers increasingly began to treat preludes as self-suﬀicient pieces, allowing for the expression of a wide range of musical ideas and characters. The concept of writing a set of 24 preludes—covering all major and minor keys— was popularized by J.S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier and later expanded upon by composers such as Chopin, Scriabin, and Rachmaninov, among many others. This album brings together preludes by various composers from diﬀerent centuries, creating a kind of time travel through the genre’s evolution and the broader history of keyboard music.

Program

● LOUIS COUPERIN (c.1626-1661) Unmeasured Prelude in F major (c.1658)

● GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL (1685-1759) Suite No. 6 in F sharp minor, HWV 431: Prelude (1720)

● JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU (1683-1764) Premier livre de pièces de clavecin: Prelude (1706)

● JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) Little Prelude in C minor, BWV 934 (1720)

● WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) Prelude in C major, K 284a (1777)

● LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827) Prelude, Op. 39 No. 1 (1789)

● EDVARD GRIEG (1843-1907) Holberg Suite, Op. 40: Praeludium (1884)

● KAROL SZYMANOWSKI (1882-1937) Prelude in D minor, Op. 1 (1899)

● ISAAC ALBÉNIZ (1860-1909) Chants d’Espagne, Op. 232: Prelude (1892)

● ALEXANDER SCRIABIN (1872-1915) Prelude in C sharp minor, Op. 9 No. 1 (1894)

● CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862-1918) Suite Bergamasque: Prélude (1890)

● FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN (1810-1849) Prelude in B flat minor, Op. 28 No. 16 (1839)

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● SERGEI RACHMANINOFF (1843-1943) Prelude in G minor, Op. 23 No. 5 (1903)

● ARR. ALEXANDER SILOTI (1863-1945) Prelude in B minor after BWV 855a by J.S. Bach (1912)

● SERGEI PROKOFIEV (1891-1953) Prelude, Op. 12 No. 7 (1913)

● MAURICE RAVEL (1875-1937) Prélude in A minor (1913)

● NIKOLAI KAPUSTIN (1937-2020) Prelude No. 17 in A flat major, Op. 53 (1988)

● GEORGE GERSHWIN (1898-1937) Prelude No. 1 in B flat major (1926)

● MAXIM SHALYGIN (b. 1985) Prelude IV (2005)

● FABIAN BELTRAN (b. 1993) Prelude No. 5 “Sincopado” (2013)

● LEONID DESYATNIKOV (b. 1955) Songs of Bukovina: Prelude No. 4 (2017)

● JOHN CORIGLIANO (b. 1938) Prelude for Paul (2021)

● ZHOU TIAN (b. 1981) Prelude (2023)

● CARL VINE (b. 1954) The Anne Landa Preludes: Thumper (2006)