March 1, 2021--Prelude for Piano #1 by Charles Dibley

Today, I decided to start recording a set of piano preludes by a friend of mine from South Dakota. He sent them to me in October, but I didn't check my work mailbox until late November. I read through the collection in December, and really started in on them in January.

The composer described the work: "A simpler prelude, a "Song without Words, so to speak. Deliberate use of the back and forth left hand chord structure. A brief interlude at measure 21 leads back to a variation of the melody at measure 27 to the end. Notice the left hand intervals. Using the intervals to stretch the hand a bit."
The majority of the prelude is over an ostinato in the left-hand (with a stretch of a 9th or 10th) with a developing melody in the right hand. You will hear a brief B-section that expands the music into the upper regions of the piano and provides a bit of contrast to the ostinato. The return of the opening ostinato signals the return of the A-section with a new, faster moving melodic line. Two sustained chords bring the prelude to a satisfying conclusion.