March 10, 2021--Prelude for Piano #2 by Charles Dibley

This is the second in a set of preludes that I found in my mailbox one day in early December by a friend of mine and composer in the state of South Dakota in the United States. I have been learning them over the past couple weeks to have them ready for this summer or early autumn. Each prelude is in a different style. Chuck wrote about this one, "This prelude uses a few bits of the old song "Shenandoah", a favorite of mine. The structure is ABCABCD with a brief coda at measure 44. Many different textures in a short piece."

To me, it originally sounds like four different pieces arbitrarily put together, but, the more I worked on it and listened to it, it is somewhat like a Rondo with completely contrasting sections. There is an atmospheric opening, followed by an arpeggiated chordal section. A more lyrical "Americana" theme follows. This all returns in it's entirety before a bombastic four measures in 5/8 time and the coda. The return of the ABC material helps to link the piece together. Even the coda seems to harken back to earlier material, although it is more of a "feeling" than actual material that returns after the D section.