"These etudes were written at the request of Elaine Martin Barber and are dedicated to her with gratitude and affection. Many years ago, when Elaine was living in Clinton, Mississippi, she taught harp lessons to our daughter. The chance to compose this work was both an opportunity to salute a wonderful performer and to thank her for all the joy she has given through her teaching. Completed in April 1998, these etudes were conceived as individual works rather than as a group of musical works with unifying musical elements. In each movement a specific technique, gesture or sound is exploited in a variety of ways. The first, 'Brooding, Mysterious,' alternates two types of gestures - quick, delicate arpeggiated figures and chromatic pedal-slips which give a restless intensity to the music. The second movement is in a broad ABAB structure. The A sections feature music in which rocking 6/8 patterns alternate with glissandi. The contrasting sections spin out a lyrical tune which cannot seem to make up its mind regarding which mode it is in - Mixolydian or Ionian. The third etude, 'Papillon,' has a restless quality achieved by uneven groupings of 16th notes. In it, a spiky, pointillistic texture alternates with a more traditional melody and accompaniment. Movement IV attempts to capture the spirit of 'third-stream' jazz by using various 'blue-note' chords and swing melodic patterns. One aspect of the design of movements III and IV involves using a very limited set of pitches. The relatively few pedal changes allow for contrast to be achieved mainly by variation in rhythm, texture, register, dynamics, etc." -James Sclater
