Program Notes: Serge P for two pianos, by Paul Reale




The title refers, of course to Serge Prokofiev and is called a "transcomposition" of that composer's Sonata Op. 56 for Two Violins. Prokofiev's sonata was written in Paris in 1932 and shows a kind of workmanlike manipulation of the neoclassic materials. It is cast into four movements; my piece, which takes materials from the first three and the opening of the fourth, is in three main sections with two interspersed solo sections. The first section more or less follows the Prokofiev first movement with major tonal elaborations. The first solo entr'acte anticipates the section, which is drawn from the Third Movement of Op. 56, and the second solo comes from the opening of Movement IV. The Finale of my piece is really the skeleton of Movement II of the Prokofiev.

Serge P is not so much a transcription as an homage to those composers of the recent past who have influenced my work. I doubt that anyone who heard Op.56 would know that it is a surrogate parent to my work. Is the piece supposed to sound like Prokofiev, Paul Chihara, or anyone else? No attempt is made to imitate any other composer's style; rather, many streams are combined in my own tonal synthesis.

The piece was completed in the end of 1993 and substantially revised in the spring of 1994. It was premiered by the composer with Judy Huang in the spring of that year.

P.R.