Suite

Piano

for

2009
sipke hoekstra

harkark/sipkehoekstra2009

Suite for Piano

Construction Some months ago I took from a drawer a Harpsichord Suite I forgot Id written
in 2003. In retrospect, the procedures involved in composing it were not typical for my
toolbox at that time. It contained a method akin to twelve-tone technique and embraced
certain aspects of serialist thinking in a period I almost exclusively wrote tonal music.
The work adopts some aspects of the dodecaphonical state of mind. But where the
dodecaphonic way of thinking rises all chromatic tones to equality, I chose to leave some
distinctive tonal markers behind in the genome of the Suite. The choice of material helped.
The single 16-note progression upon which the Harpsichord Suite was based, was derived
from the dux of a baroque fugue I wrote around the year 2000. So: a tonal fugue. But this
tonal dux fitted the purpose of a rather strict use in bending, tossing around and transposing
utterly smoothly, because of the chromatic aspects of it and almost complete use of a
chromatic scale. Retrograde motion, transposition and inversion as well as isorhythmic
techniques, traditional formal structures and a non-tonal harmonic vocabulary were among
the means subsequently used.
I realized the work had a dramatic layer in it, which the harpsichord could not transmit
properly. I therefore decided to take on the challenge of translating the Suite into the piano
vocabulary and see what the result would be. I omitted the original first movement, a Caccia,
for having become too constructivistic; the idea that determined its structure had been
imposed too academically and rigidly to be able to please the ear under any circumstance. I
also disqualified the original Menuet, for basically the same reason. Then I composed a new
Prelude, Pavane and Menuet and reorganized the remaining three movements thoroughly,
treating with as much respect as possible the character and ideas of the pieces.
Movements One of the structural models for the first movement is the Baroque Prelude. The
principal sequence of notes is stated repeatedly, in a fluid rain of notes. The theme appears
as a whole but also incomplete, increasingly interrupted by other fragments of the theme,
eventually disintegrating to continuously shrinking fragments that in the end are mixed
unrecognizably, deteriorating to a musical void.
The spine of the Pavane is an 16th century pavane-based rhythm. Its flesh is conceived by
treating the principal 16-note theme, mostly in its original fashion, with an isorhythmic
approach. There are more notes in the color than can be sustained by the talea, which
makes interesting shifts in the character of the repeated bass pattern. In the midsection the
talea is subjected to a lively diminution that does not quite fit the character of the historical
Pavane, but certainly suits the cast of characters that are displayed in this set of miniscule
isorhythmic variations. The Pavane, however, is not a programmatic piece. The characters
merely emerged naturally out of the associations the short variations provoke.
The Interludium, is shaped freely whereas the appliance of the principal progression is strictly
observed. There is some resemblance with the Prelude, at least where the handling of the
material is concerned. In both movements, repetitions of fragments rather than using the
whole sequence determine the greater part of the construction.
In order to transmit a hint of Classicism, the Menuet was constructed similar to its 18th
century model. This anachronistic clash between old forms and new sounds may be
experienced as an interesting dissonance here.
The short, reciting fifth movement eventually preludes the sixth and final movement: the
Charleston. Although this movement too is harmonically highly dissonant, it brings about a
relatively tonal impression, due to the working of the familiar, syncopic rhythms. The subtitle
is an expression of my reverence for the great stride-virtuoso Thomas Fats Waller.
th

Sipke Hoekstra / Utrecht, November 19 2009

Suite
Piano

for

2009
sipke hoekstra

harkark/sipkehoekstra2009

I.
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