Over the past several years I have written many piano works ranging from lovingly composed pedigogical pieces for intermediate pianists and test pieces for competitions to works tailored to the formidable talents of the most virtuosic of professional pianists. All these works are performed regularly in recitals and concerts. As well, several of them have served as the basis for Doctoral and Master's degree dissertations.
In 'Put On Your Running Shoes' I decided to diverge from the styles of all my previous keyboard music. For me, this choice would ensure that my piano writing would remain fresh, presenting new, interesting and enlivening challenges for both myself and the pianists who would play it.
This new work, commissioned especially for 2000 Honens First Laureate Katherine Chi by Honens International Piano Competition and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, is a lively, virtuosic avant-garde boogie-woogie that was, in part, inspired by my recent rediscovery of the Ligeti Piano Etudes.
Over a set, repeated running passage in the left hand, the right hand plays melodic fragments reminiscent of irregular and quirky jazz riffs. The hands exchange functions in the middle of the piece before returning to a quick recall of the opening section. The work is fast and constantly running. There is hardly time to catch your breath.
'Put On Your Running Shoes' sprang from months of improvising at the keyboard. Even though it taxed my own technical capabilities at the piano. I had great fun writing this new piece.
Alexina Louie (from the score)