David Colson: Twelve Preludes & a Fantasy (Clare Longendyke)

GRAMMY® Award-nominated musician David Colson’s Twelve Preludes & a Fantasy forms an arc with a big circle around it to tell a story which allows listeners to be guided by their own experiences. In this way, the work is “about everything and nothing.” The work borrows from and is influenced by a multitude of master composers, ranging from the Middle Ages through the 20th Century, from Palestrina and Josquin des Prez, to Elliott Carter and George Crumb.

Written over a ten-year span from 2016 to 2026, the set began as a single small piano piece and grew into the Twelve Preludes, and finally a culminating Fantasy, originally conceived as another prelude before its scale and technical demands led Colson to set it apart as a stand-alone showpiece. a Fantasy is dedicated to the memory of his mother, Nancy K. Colson, who died shortly after he began work on the album. In the Twelve Preludes, the titles for each are small sentences and phrases that evoke disparate worlds and atmospheres—nearly poetic, the titles are a guide for how one might listen to these pieces. The titles are intentionally ambiguous clues to the images or emotions of the composition, with the music adding the greatest focus.

Pianist Clare Longendyke is a soloist, chamber musician, and passionate advocate for new music. She brings daring repertoire, curiosity, and thoughtful storytelling to the concert stage in unique and imaginative programs; among her recent successes are her sold-out Carnegie Hall Weill Recital Hall debut, and reaching #2 on the Billboard Traditional Classical chart.