Dr. Vera Ivanova, Composer
Vera Ivanova,
composer

'...internationally recognized as an emerging artist of great talent.'

Campus Times (University of Rochester/Eastman)

Three Studies in Uneven Meters

etudes for piano (2011)

Three Studies in Uneven Meters were composed in the Spring of 2011. This set of etudes is dedicated to several 20th-century composers, who influenced my music in the past (Bartok, Kagel, Stravinsky, Piazzolla, Scriabin) and whose compositional technique is referenced in these three pieces: 1. BartoKagel (and a little bit of Stravinsky), 2. Canon à la Piazzolla (descending canon with all voices sustained), 3. Scriabinesque (fleeting cycles).

Program Notes:
Vera Ivanova's Three Studies in Uneven Meters were composed in the Spring of 2011. This set of etudes is dedicated to several 20th-century composers, who influenced her music in the past and whose compositional techniques are referenced in these three pieces.
The first study (BartoKagel, and a little bit of Stravinsky), joins together personalities of three composers: Béla Bartók, Mauricio Kagel and Igor Stravinsky. All three composers were influenced by Eastern European and Russian folk music and, in their own turn, influenced each other's music (Stravinsky influenced Bartók, and Bartók influenced Kagel).
Second in this set is Canon à la Piazzolla, descending canon with all voices sustained. The theme of this canon is in the time signature of 5/16 and is reminiscent of some irregularities in the rhythmic pattern of a tango. The canon builds up as the voices are added and sustained, creating an accumulative effect that destroys the originally recognizable melodic motif.
The last study (Scriabinesque, fleeting cycles) explores the harmonic world of Alexander Scriabin, restricted to its own rules of horizontal and vertical sonorities. Even though this study does not reproduce Scriabin's harmonies, it makes use of interval "cycles" (chain of repeated intervals of the same type). Due to the sameness of interval cycles, the harmonic and vertical sonorities in this piece are locked (or "fixed") and thus reference some of Scriabin's etudes.

Instrumentation
Piano
Movements
3: 1. BartoKagel, 2. Canon à la Piazzolla, 3. Scriabinesque
Duration
c. 5-6 minutes
Premiere
2013 FSU Biennial New Music Festival, Soyoung You (piano)
Audio Sample
Canon-fragment
» Play
» Download

Score Sample
Canon_a_la_Piazzolla-p1
» View
» Download

To purchase "Three Studies in Uneven Meters" on CD, please visit Navona Records website. Click here to contact composer about this piece.

Performances:

March 1st, 2024
Three Studies in Uneven Meters, etudes for piano (2011) - Dr. Kowoon Lee
Central Connecticut State University, Founders Hall (New Britain, CT)
July 22nd, 2022
Three Studies in Uneven Meters, etudes for piano (2011) - Lee Alan Nolan
Old First Presbyterian Church (San Francisco, CA)
March 25th, 2022
Three Studies in Uneven Meters, etudes for piano (2011) - Kowoon Lee
Kossen Auditorium (Columbus, MS)
This performance is a part of Music by Women Festival 2022.
February 27th, 2022
Three Studies in Uneven Meters, etudes for piano (2011) - Kowoon Lee
Munson Recital Hall, Azusa Pacific University (Azusa, CA)
This performance is a part of Inaugural 2022 Southwest Regional Conference of The College Music Society's Southwest Chapter, where Kowoon Lee performed "Three Studies" as a part of her “Finding Their own Voices: Piano Études by Women Composers” Lecture-Recital.
February 20th, 2022
Three Studies in Uneven Meters, etudes for piano (2011) - Kowoon Lee
IPPA Music Center (Shawnee, KS)
This performance is a part of Dr. Kowoon Lee's Lecture-Recital "Finding their own Voices," presented at the International Piano Professionals Association Winter Concert Series.
February 5th, 2021
Three Studies in Uneven Meters, etudes for piano (2011) - Kowoon Lee
James C. Olson Performing Arts Center, White Recital Hall (Kansas City, MO)
April 19th, 2016
Three Studies in Uneven Meters, etudes for piano (2011) - Younkyung Kim
Ilshin Hall (Seoul, Korea)
June 2nd, 2015
Three Studies in Uneven Meters, etudes for piano (2011) - Steven Vanhauwaert
No. 3 (Scriabinesque)
Redcat (Los Angeles)
This concert is a part of Piano Spheres Satellite concert series.
June 21st, 2014
Three Studies in Uneven Meters, etudes for piano (2011) - Brenda Tom
Trinity Chapel (Berkeley, CA)
The performance is a part of the 12th Annual Festival of Contemporary Music
May 19th, 2014
Three Studies in Uneven Meters, etudes for piano (2011) - Brenda Tom, earplay ensemble
ODC Theater (San Francisco, CA)
"Three Studies in Uneven Meters" will be performed as a winning piece in 2013 Earplay Donald Aird Composers Competition. The concert will be preceded by pre-concert talk starting at 6:45PM.
May 15th, 2014
Three Studies in Uneven Meters, etudes for piano (2011) - Brenda Tom
The performance of my "Three Studies" will be a part of my co-joint presentation with Bruce Bennett at the San Francisco Museum of Performance and Design.
November 27th, 2013
Three Studies in Uneven Meters, etudes for piano (2011) - ensemble Inverspace
Moscow House of Composers (Moscow, Russia)
May 31st, 2013
Three Studies in Uneven Meters, etudes for piano (2011) - Locrian Chamber Players
Bargemusic concerts (Brooklyn, NY)
Here and Now Series
May 30th, 2013
Three Studies in Uneven Meters, etudes for piano (2011) - Locrian Chamber Players
Riverside Church ( New York, NY)
World Premiere
February 1st, 2013
Three Studies in Uneven Meters, etudes for piano (2011)
Florida State University (Tallahassee, FL)
16th Biennial Festival of New Music