PECULIARITIES OF THE METRORHYTHM OF P. CRESTON’S WORKS IN THE FOCUS ON PIANO ACCOMPANIMENT

Abstract

Statement of the problem. Paul Creston’s Sonata for Saxophone and Piano, as well as his Concertino for Marimba and Orchestra (with piano accompaniment) are by far the most popular works of the American composer. The unifying factor for these two opuses is that they constitute the obligatory repertoire of a professional musician and they are endowed with a high level of technical complexity. The nicety of the piano part in particular and ensemble performance in general is quite a challenge for the pianist. The hypothesis is that the key to solving performance difficulties lies in understanding the features of the metrorhythmic organization of the presented works. Main objective is to explain the principles of metrorhythmic organization in the most popular works of P. Creston, where the piano is involved or can be involved. Methods that help to solve the set goal: the method of metrorhythmic analysis (necessary for understanding the metrorhythmic component in the music of P. Creston), the comparative method (helps to determine the general principles of the composer’s thinking in the process of comparing the scores of two works of different genres), the method of performance analysis (aimed at a practical solution performing problems that a pianist may encounter when working with the works of P. Creston). The scientific novelty of the research: there is the first attempt to explain the main difficulties faced by a pianist when working with Paul Creston’s music, focusing on the metrorhythmic component of the music-making process. For the first time, the piano parts of the Sonata for saxophone from piano op. 19 and Concertino for marimba with piano accompaniment op. 21 are the object of research. Conclusions. Working within the framework of classical forms, using traditional romantic music-making techniques with elements of jazz stylistics, Paul Creston breaks the principles of metric and rhythmic organization established in European academic music, which makes his works non-trivial both for performance and perception. The metrorhythm of P. Creston’s works is the key to understanding their structure, and, in fact, to facilitating the pianist’s work with opuses during the rehearsal period.