Nocturne

This piece is constructed on the twelve-tone row: <<9 4 5 0 3 6 E 6 8 1 2 T>> . Most of the melodic material is derived from this tone row through inversion and retrograde. The structure of the piece follows the archetype of the nocturne as pioneered by John Field and Frédéric Chopin; typically in a rounded-binary/ternary form with tranquil outer sections and a more agitated middle section. I chose to put the piece in a mixed meter of 6/16+5/16 to draw attention to the contour of the arpeggiated left-hand figuration. The middle section sees the tone row stated in the upper voice of the right hand and the inversion of the tone row in the left hand in the lowest registers of the piano, harmonized by a middle voice in the right hand. The piece ends with a serene coda which restates the tone row one last time under a chromatically descending bassline.

Solo Piano; ~4:00