Nova Scotia pianist Jennifer King presents a selection of etudes by award-winning composer Emily Doolittle. An interesting work to analyse, Minute Etudes collects six of Doolittle’s one-minute pieces, captured live from King’s performance. Each piece intends to exercise a facet of composition while also invoking a target emotion. The entire work is under ten minutes long.
The recording itself is of fine quality, and the listener would be forgiven to assume this is a studio record. King’s performance is precise and delivered with intention, but still peppered with the ephemeral character of challenging live work. More music should be documented like this. Only the occasional (and oddly delightful) turning of the pages and final applause break the illusion; flooding your mind with images of an intensely focused artist surrounded by a captivated audience.
I found myself drawn most to the third track in the record, “Furtive.” I enjoyed the playful complexity in rhythm and harmony; sounds I found familiar in nature to those wielded by modern jazz pianists like Ethan Iverson of The Bad Plus. Doolittle expands: “The ‘etude’ aspect of this piece is the parallel major and minor 10ths. I heard a singer practising this interval, and that was what inspired the piece. I wrote furtive first. Then realised it was too short to stand on its own, so I wrote another. Then realised it would be better as a set of three…”
In fact, the third track on the record, “Fleeting,” is also part of this set. It has a similar feel, but I venture to say it’s a bit more focused; mostly weaving in and out of two themes that I would qualify as “conventionally classical,” connected by very enjoyable bits of rolling, tense dyads. King agrees that this piece involves more repetition, and Doolittle candidly admits: “I don’t actually remember what the ‘etude’ genesis of this one was!”
The etudes all come from a set two books published 17 years ago. It is important to note that while etudes often fulfil an academic function, these pieces were always intended to be mixed and matched for performance.
“I think [King is] the first performer who has really made a new set out of them, and it’s great to hear how you’ve put them together!” says Doolittle, adding that while performers have programmed material from Books 1 & 2 in the past, they are usually intermixed with pieces from other composers.
“‘Glassy’ is written in a sparkling register of the piano with off beat lines imitated between the two hands. It gives the sense of clarity and smoothness as it more or less stays in one dimension.” says King.
The use of sustain in this register creates reinforcing harmonics that merge into an ambience I would relate to the sound of wind inside an ice cave. It is a good example of how cohesively the relationship between conceptual and musical themes is presented in this work.
“I enjoyed playing all the etudes in both books, and love the fact Emily wants the performer to recreate the sets for varying performances,” says King. “For me, there was no challenge in compiling. Just a wonderful sense of freedom that feels like a gift from the composer.”
Minute Etudes is out now on streaming platforms.