Aylesford Pieces No. 8 - Prelude

About this work

The Aylesford Prelude opens with the right hand alone. Its semiquavers travel across the keyboard before the left hand takes over; in these opening bars, one hand’s rests leave room for the other’s figure. The D-minor writing in common time invites us to follow a line changing hands rather than hear two separate accompaniments.

As both staves fill out, that continuity must survive alongside sustained notes. A held value can easily be released when another voice starts moving. Practise each stave while singing the active line, then add only the other hand’s longer notes. The runs can settle around points of support that remain audible.

For the opening handover, join the end of the right-hand run to the start of the left-hand figure without adding a pause. Choose fingering at this junction before extending the fragment into the surrounding bars. Allegro moderato allows room for articulation: the semiquavers should remain distinct without becoming a succession of accents. At the close, let the cadence and fermata bring the motion to rest.

Score and files

1-page PDF and MIDI. Typeset by Bas Wassink for Mutopia from the Schott edition of 1930; this typesetting is declared public domain.

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