Prelude for Strings

Prelude for Strings is an arrangement of Julia Perry’s Prelude for Piano, a revision of one of her earliest compositions, Lament, composed while she was a student at Westminster Choir College. This brief work serves as an appealing introduction to Perry’s music, reflecting her unique harmonic language, meticulous approach to musical material, and a cohesive formal structure. The writing is concentrated throughout, achieving expressive intensity through austere and economical means. The mood, harmonies, form, and original title all point to the language of the blues.

This early composition anticipates Perry’s lifelong preference for formal economy, for consolidating rather than elaborating her musical ideas. The Prelude begins with an expansive theme. When a variant of it begins anew, it is only the first part of the tune. The motion is soon compressed, morphing into short motivic cells that move in oscillations and repetitions. The initial gesture of the opening returns once again, but the tune immediately breaks off. Here, Roger Zahab’s arrangement provides an optional full restatement of the tune. In the original, the ending comes abruptly, without a hint of flamboyance, another characteristic of Julia Perry’s music.

Arranger’s Note:
My engagement with Julia Perry’s work goes back to my undergraduate days, when, in 1977, my violin teacher handed me the piano reduction of the Violin Concerto Perry had sent him. A few days later, I called the phone number on the score and asked to speak with Julia Perry. The voice on the other end said, “This is Julia’s mother, America Perry. Julia is not able to speak on the phone, but she is right here next to me, and I can relay her answers to your questions.” And so began a very long association with her work. I was directed to the American Music Center in New York City where I found many scores, including the Prelude for Piano and the Symphony in One Movement for Violas and String Basses.

Julia Perry composed Lament for solo piano in 1946. She revised the work in 1962, renaming it Prelude for Piano. In the 1980s, I found a copy of her 1962 manuscript in the American Music Center. Under the title, she had written [arrangement for string orchestra available] but I have never been able to locate it. I made various attempts over the years to make a viable arrangement for string orchestra in her honor and finally arrived at the present version. I led the musicians of the University of Pittsburgh Orchestra in the first performance of this orchestration in a remotely recorded version during the height of the pandemic. It was released on December 22, 2020.

A restatement of the opening melody has been added at measure 23 to create a more expansive version suitable for orchestral performance. Perry’s original form can be retained, however, by deleting measures 23–28. In this case, the last quarter of measure 22 in the first violins should be played an octave lower. In measures 30, 34, and 35, basses may play an octave higher if necessary.

—Roger Zahab

Program note © 2024 Videmus Inc. Free use permitted with recognition in all materials