Integral/parent work: Huit études

It was at the request of the French pianist Martine Joste that I wrote my Huit Études pour Piano en Seizièmes de Ton. Rather than cover eight octaves, the 96 keys of this piano created by the German Sauter Company cover only one octave.

The fourth etude in particular, Vol du Bourdon, is inspired by Rimsky-Korsakov’s celebrated work, Flight of the Bumblebee, and takes place within the interval of a minor third.

The seventh, Les Accords Classés, differs in that it highlights major, minor, diminished and augmented triads, as well as their inversions through glissandi by sixteenth tones between chords. A new version, Études VIIa, includes four-note chords. (Translation: C. Flint De Médicis)