PROGRAMME NOTE:
I have been playing the piano since I was six years old. It was my major for many years; I have spent countless hours at the instrument, and to this day, the piano accompanies my entire creative process.
However, I must admit that études were a genre I completely disliked during my school years. This genre often seemed too ‘technical’ and uninteresting to me. For a long time, I wondered: how could I turn this ‘unfavourite’ genre into something compelling? Eventually, I came up with the idea of composing my own études. In my cycle of Études, I decided that those ‘boring’ technical exercises — such as arpeggios, chords, and rapid passages — should not feel like pedagogical obligations, but could be presented as vivid, playful, and evocative musical narratives.
While each étude is assigned a specific key, ‘tonality’ is treated subjectively through my personal major-minor harmonic system. During the compositional process, each key sparked profound associations with either the historical legacy of certain composers (for instance, the link between J.S. Bach and D minor) and/or with the sonic characteristics of certain instruments. Thus, every movement serves as an instrumental ‘portrait,’ employing the idiomatic language unique to that source — be it the ethereal arpeggios of the harp, the crystalline textures of the harpsichord, or the sustained pedal points of the organ.
The Piano Études consist of four contrasting movements:
I. Étude in C major. Bells
II. Étude in B-flat minor. Harpsichord
III. Étude in B-flat major. Harp
IV. Étude in D minor. Organ
Each movement ranges from 2 to 4 minutes in duration, with the complete cycle lasting approximately 12 minutes.
Raminta Šerkšnytė
YEAR OF COMPOSITION: 2026
INSTRUMENTATION: piano solo
DURATION: ca. 12′
PREMIERE: Ieva Jokubavičiūtė (piano). Kaunas State Philharmonic, Kaunas (LT), April 30, 2026.
COPYRIGHT: Raminta Šerkšnytė
SCORE (manuscript): please contact raminta.serksnyte@gmail.com
PERFORMING RIGHTS: please contact Mr. Stefan Fragner: fragner@rbartists.at