Aylesford Pieces No. 7 - Concerto

About this work

The Aylesford Concerto opens with right-hand quavers, while the left hand places a G crotchet before its six quavers. The G-major writing in common time then grows denser: semiquavers and sextuplets alter the flow within the beat. This edition is for solo keyboard; the title does not imply an accompanying orchestral part.

The challenge is to keep the beat unchanged when the note values become shorter. In the sextuplet passages, six semiquavers occupy the duration of one crotchet. Speeding up the beat itself makes the return to ordinary values uneven. Practise the transition between bars while tapping just the four main beats, then restore the notes between them.

Fast figures meet detached bass notes, chords and rests. The end of a run therefore need not bring the music to a halt: listen to what the other hand continues. To combine the lines, first play the bass with only the first right-hand note of each beat. Restore the runs without giving every note equal weight. The final chord beneath its fermata can then bring a still-moving passage to rest.

Score and files

2-page PDF and MIDI. The Concerto’s two pages were typeset by Bas Wassink and are distributed by Mutopia as declared public domain. The stated print source is Schott, 1930.

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