Nine Pieces for Ivory

The miniature studies Nine Pieces for Ivory by Pawlu Grech are didactic pieces in the traditional style for pianoforte and were composed as an answer to a phone call by a representative of a well-known editing house.

These pieces are intended to be played on the white keys of the pianoforte, as the word ivory[1]indicates. They also present gradual augmentation of technical difficulty.

The studies were completed in about two months starting on 16th June 1969 until August of the same year.[2]At first, the composer completed one piece daily.

Although these nine pieces are studies, the study titles alternate with other movement titles, e.g. immediately after study 1a and 1b there is a piece called Dance.

Study 1b for four hands was only recently inserted within the group because of technical similarities to study 1a. Both studies are borrowed from Poco a Poco, another work containing pieces and exercises for the beginner pianist by Pawlu Grech.

Study 1a is a five-finger exercise with long notes in one hand against shorter notes in the other. It also contains changes in time signatures that occur at salient points highlighting a particular diminution in note values and, or swapping of note values from one hand to another.

Study 1b is very similar to study 1a but this time needs two pianists for performing.

In Dance, a four-quaver pattern is constantly moving across the piano in the left hand while the right-hand plays note repetition. This is interrupted here and there by scale passages where hands run in contrary motion and as the piece proceeds, gets also rhythmically complicated. The initial four-quaver pattern shifts to the right hand towards the end of the piece only for a few bars until an upward scale leads to the pattern being played by both hands. The initial note repetition in the right hand is followed by a final similar repetition in the left hand.

Study 2 starts as a 6/8 study with a steady quaver pattern in the left hand that accompanies a somewhat syncopated rhythm in the right hand. There are exchanges of patterns between hands until a 5/8 time signature enhances the syncopated pattern. Other changes in time signature add to this until compound time is reached again towards the end.

Canon is a study in purely canonical form without bar lines and with long phrases, where the left hand imitates the right hand. Only towards the end does the shift occur where the right hand imitates the left hand. The canon ends on a two-note chord of a fourth in both hands.

Study 3 is linear in scalar form, white keys only, with several changes in time signature and accented first notes whenever each change occurs. An occasional unexpected bar-rest enhances much interest.

March is in a steady 2/4 time staccato rhythmic pattern in the left hand and starts as loud. A drastic change in dynamic to soft initiates a faster staccato pattern in the left hand. After a syncopated section, the original dynamic and rhythmic pattern resumes till the end of the piece.

Study 4 is a work in intervals of the sevenths against scalar movement with many ornaments that start as quaver and two semiquavers and get as complicated as demisemiquaver trills. Hands cross each other on the keyboard and the 7ths get entangled and, at times, give into the ornaments. Towards the end another voice forks out from the intervallic sevenths.

Bagatelle is in itself another study, this time in changing metres. It is in three sections. The first section starts in simple quadruple time and then changes to simple triple for a few bars. Meanwhile, the tempo changes to a faster speed and back again to the initial speed a few times before the start of a middle longer section. This is highlighted with different time signatures for left and right hands. This exercise gives way to homogeneity in both hands leading towards an almost coda-like section that is immediately slowed down in tempo before it again accumulates speed and sound till it reaches the end.

The finale is replete with repeated notes and occasional semiquaver quintuplets. Despite metre changes, the quaver rhythm as indicated in the beginning is constant. The introduction contains a metric pattern that descends from 5/8 to 1/8, bar by bar. This is repeated quite often in the excerpt. Here and there the repeated note pattern gives way to leaps. At times descending scales of sevenths or ascending linear scales in the left hand add interest to the continuous quaver movement. Chords with acciaccaturas are also used adding to this effect. Towards the end the repeated quaver notes become two-note clusters or octaves, then they open up to sevenths with one note held and the other repeated until the final metric pattern is reached.

© Maria Scicluna July 2013

Parts included in the pdf: Piano

[1] In the early times of pianoforte manufacturing (1709) the white keys used to be made of ivory.

[2][2] See the dates at the end of each piece. except for study 1b, which was added much later.