The Bell Études (2024)

The Bell Études is a set of fourteen short pieces for solo piano. Each one has a technical function, something to be worked out and fussed over. As a set, the études have a shared set of large-scale musical references, all the result of long conversations with Conor Hanick, their dedicatee. I kept a running list of things we both liked, and it started to function as a giant shopping list for the études — “inner voices” was underlined, “Britten sea interludes” thrice underlined, emphatically; “Messiaen” circled, but then struck-through (I could never compete!), and so on.

I wanted to write music which has a specific pedagogic function, but whose reference points are broader and more abstract. For instance, a sense of chiming, tolling, and crystalline chords pervades the set, whence comes the title; a few imply specific physical movement (Sarabande, Berceuse), and others are heavily specific about what techniques they’ll challenge (Wide Bells).

1. Lilt (for a quiet ostinato)
2. Sharp Focus (for canons)
3. Wide Bells (for contrasting material)
4. Crosswise (for interlocking hands)
5. Sarabande (for an idée fixe)
6. Far but More Space (for a descending line)
7. Big B Energy (for a drone)
8. Teacher-Student (for educational purposes)
9. Oxford, April 2019 (for a constant texture)
10. Now Honey (for clef-reading)
11. Close Bells (for voicing)
12. Berceuse (for delicate accents)
13. In Equal Measure (for opposite materials)
14. If All Thi Body Be Briyt (for perpetual motion)

– NICO MUHLY