Xanadu, for piano

Here is a short work for solo piano based on Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "Kubla Khan, a vision". I have always struggled with writing for the piano for some reason. I am an improviser and the process of sitting down to focus on writing for my instrument has for some reason been a challenge. However, this is one of the more recent pieces on which I have worked.

The piece begins with a depiction of bells and chimes whilst awake. Gradually, as the speaker becomes more intoxicated on opium, they are lulled to sleep and the dream of Xanadu beings. The music become more florid and spectral. Ultimately, the spectator is awoken and the sounds of the chimes that surround them returns.

Amazing! More later...working, should be working now...

I enjoyed this piece. I find the "form" of it interesting. Obviously there is the first section that sets up the mood and ideas of the piece (the bells, as you say) but then flows into this quasi-improvisatory form that mixes a variety of styles. I say variety of styles but maybe most like a debussy-esque, impressionistic, dream state. Which, by the way makes perfect sense for the title and program notes for the piece. 

I think you do well to call back the beginning of the piece, if not just for a brief moment, to connect the piece as a whole. I really think it brings it together at the end into a single cohesive entity, especially given the almost improvisatory nature of the music after the opening. Really enjoyed it.

On 6/12/2021 at 2:29 PM, Morgri said:

I enjoyed this piece. I find the "form" of it interesting. Obviously there is the first section that sets up the mood and ideas of the piece (the bells, as you say) but then flows into this quasi-improvisatory form that mixes a variety of styles. I say variety of styles but maybe most like a debussy-esque, impressionistic, dream state. Which, by the way makes perfect sense for the title and program notes for the piece. 

I think you do well to call back the beginning of the piece, if not just for a brief moment, to connect the piece as a whole. I really think it brings it together at the end into a single cohesive entity, especially given the almost improvisatory nature of the music after the opening. Really enjoyed it.

 

Thank you for your feedback. The music I write tends to be more programmatic in nature, so that influences the structure more oft than not. The idea of liquidous, constant motion is also important. Thanks for listening.