3 Preludes for a Quarantine

I hope everyone has been doing well during this crazy time. Originally I wrote these preludes as parts of composing exercises for Alan Belkin's book Music Composition: Craft and Art. They sat around for a bit until during the quarantine when I took a look at them again. I realized that these pieces had a lot of character to them, and they were quite distinct in nature. The first movement is a simple ternary form piece which begins and ends in the key of g minor and has a very neo-romantic tonal space. The B section is a brisk, more straight-forward tonal texture, but has a fun little twist sequencing up near the end of the section. The second movement was composed with the B vs Bb dichotomy functioning as a germinating cell for the rest of the movement's material. More impressionistic and mysterious than the other two movements, it also lacks a more traditional formal structure, instead relying on the development of motivic cells to make the movement cohere together in a logical way. The third movement is also a modified ternary movement, but with the A sections being played at different speeds, and the second A ending having an outro section attached. The B section is also more like a sonata form developmental section (without the required tonic-dominant modulatory feature). This movement is not only tonally very colorful, but also dynamic in regards to tempo, slowing and quickening often, giving the piece a continual sense of renewed spirit. Rather than just release the preludes as seperate pieces, I found that when played in a certain sequence, they represent a progression of mental and spiritual being that many people have, including myself, been going through during this time. As such, I made them into a suite. If it brings you a little bit of joy or excitement during this time (and after this is over), that's all that I can hope for.