Notated improvisation (in the Liszt "spiritual" vein)

[ronde_des_sylphes]

This is an improvisation somewhat inspired by the spirit of works such as Cesar Franck's Prelude, Chorale and Fugue and Liszt’s Benediction de dieu and Vallée d'Obermann. It was improvised at home in 2020 (I posted video of me improvising it back then) and now it has been written out with sheet music.

In three parts, it opens with a contemplative minor key episode which moves between melancholy to serenity and an impassioned, declamatory passage and recitative only to subside into gently rocking bells.

This gives way to a highly vocal, operatic even, middle section where the mood is one of uplift and celebration, even ecstasy. After a cadenza-like passage concluding on the dominant, the mood changes abruptly as the final section begins with a sense of despair in the stillness. The sense of loss and mourning is accentuated by the right hand meandering around the dominant and the chromatic semitone beneath. As this tails off, the piece recedes into the void with a progression of quiet but firm chords as finality is contemplated and ultimately arrived at.

I've ironed out some metrical irregularities in the original audio but some remain, especially early on, but there is only so much you can do and I'm not sure that I would bother if I wasn't intend on transitioning it into a finalised composition.