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Matsudaira, Yoritsune : Toccata chromatique

Work Overview

Music ID : 4477
Instrumentation:Piano Solo 
Genre:toccata
Copyright:Under Copyright Protection

Commentary (2)

Author : Hirano, Takatoshi

Last Updated: April 20, 2018
[Open]
Note: This article is automatically translated from the original Japanese text. The author of the original work did not supervise this translation.

Published in 1993 as 'Zen-on Piano Piece 476'. Although the year of composition is unknown, it is not impossible to consider it a work composed in the 1940s, based on comparisons with other works by Yoritsune Matsudaira. It is a perpetuum mobile-like toccata primarily played in the high register. The title 'Cromatico' (chromatic) derives from the continuous chromatic motion of the inner voice played by the right hand, and the frequent augmented and diminished intervals in the left-hand part at the beginning. However, arpeggios spanning from the low to middle registers, suggesting E major, serve as gentle punctuation, and the left hand occasionally features perfect fifths instead of augmented and diminished intervals, indicating a modal rather than atonal treatment. While the right-hand texture remains largely unchanged, the left hand moves somewhat more freely in comparison, providing propulsion and rhythmically varied elements to the music. In the concluding section, led by parallel chord progressions in the left hand, the right hand plays rapid figures in an even higher register before the piece concludes with a chord emphasizing a tritone (augmented fourth).

Author : Hirano, Takatoshi

Last Updated: April 20, 2018
[Open]
Note: This article is automatically translated from the original Japanese text. The author of the original work did not supervise this translation.

Toccata cromatico was published as the Zen-On Piano Pieces 476 in 1993. The year of composition is unknown, but it is not impossible to see it as a piece written in the 1940s, comparing its style with those of the works composed in the same period by Matsudaira. The piece is a sort of perpetuum mobile played mainly in the high range. 'Cromatico (chromatic)' is related to the chromatic movement of the inner voice played by the right hand, as well as to the augmented or diminished intervals played by the left hand in the beginning. However, the music is not so much atonal as modal, considering that the arpeggios from the low range to the middle range indicating E major serve as punctuation marks and that perfect fifths often appear in the left hand’s part instead of augmented or diminished intervals. There is almost no change in the texture of the right hand’s part, while the left hand’s movement is more flexible, making the music more energetic and richer in rhythmic variety. After the climax is established through the parallel harmony in the left hand’s part, the right hand plays fast figures in the highest range, and both hands play a chord featuring an augmented fourth.

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