HOMAGE TO SERGEI RACHMANINOFF NOCTURNE No. 12 IN G-SHARP MINOR

The keyboard technical display in my PIANO DERIVATION "Autumn Brillance" first attracted PhilErklen to my piano music in the early days of February, 1998. Since that time, he and his company,International Music Syndicate, have championed my music, presenting it to hundreds of students andteachers in workshops and performances. It seems wholly appropriate that Erklen's commission,celebrating our friendship and a decade of work together, should be a similar technical tour de forcefor the piano. As its impetus, this NOCTURNE No. 12 IN G# MINOR uses the famous Rachmaninoff"Prelude No. 12 in G# Minor, Opus 32".

Despite the unabashed romantic nature of my NOCTURNE No. 12, with its beautifully expressive middlesection in the relative B Major, there exists an ongoing harmonic struggle between the tonic and dominantharmonies; The D# Major dominant triad often is written in its enharmonic equivalent Eb Major, a morecommon visual identity. Sometimes this duel is identified by the visual presence of both keys in the samemeasure (M. 37). At other times the duality is exhibited by musical "tectonic plates" with an extendedpresence of the dominant as Eb Major (MM. 34-37) or as D# Major (MM. 40-41). At other times, insteadof peacefully coexisting, the two keys clash, showing both the tonic and dominant in the same bar.Eb Major eventually emerges victorious with a key signature change in M. 117. The coda, beginningin M. 128, sounds the tonic Eb Major in the right hand, while the left continues its insistence on G# Minor.From here to the end the left hand functions in both keys as it alternates the aforementioned G# Minortonic triad with an earlier quasi trombe figure in the Eb Major material above.

The right hand x-note figure introduced in M.3 and M.7 is identical to that written in Rachmaninoff 'sop. 32, #12. This figure is always pedalled. Its successful execution is a combination of finger articulationand hand rotation. For each player, the solution is an individual journey of exploration. Throughout thework, as the figure is varied by melodic expansion and inversion, I often place one of the six x-notes inthe left hand. This affords very short opportunities for relaxation in the right hand. The left hand notes arealways visually clarified by stem direction or bottom staff placement using cross beams.

There are four dynamic levels of accents specified throughout the work. Progressing from lightest toheaviest, they include the staccato dot, the tenuto line, the regular accent, and the sforzando. In somemeasures, more than one type of accent may be indicated.

Jackson Berkey Cape May, NJ & Olympic Peninsula, 2008

24 NOCTURNES

Certain piano works by Bach, Shostakovitch, and Chopin share an identical harmonic journey. The PRELUDES AND FUGUES of Bach and Shostakovitch and the 24 PRELUDES of Chopin include works in all major and minor keys. Now, here in the 21st Century, Jackson Berkey’s 24 NOCTURNES are ordered harmonically in a similar manner. Berkey’s works traverse the “Circle of Fifths”, alternating between majors and their relative minors. Although the composer maintains the 12 key signatures, occasionally the NOCTURNE at hand is in one of the modes of its indicated key signature, rather than having the key signature’s tonic note as the key center.

Many of the NOCTURNES intentionally emulate – structurally, melodically, technically – existing piano works by composers from different time periods. Here are several: Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt,Debussy, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, Alberto Ginastera, William Schuman, and Serge Prokofiev.

Nocturne No. 12 in G# MinorHomage to Sergei Rachmaninoff

SDG 08-208 • Nocturne in G# Minor

© 2008 SDG Press® www.berkey.com

Distributed by Masters Music, A Division of Edwin F. Kalmus P.O. Box 810157, Boca Raton, FL 33481International Copyright Secured All Rights Reserved Made in U.S.A.

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1 2 2

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To Phillip ErklenCelebrating a Decade of Friendship and Collaboration

Homage to Sergei Rachmaninoff

Nocturne No. 12 in G# Minor JACKSON BERKEYCape May & Hood Canal, 2008

42

1 2 3 52

4

2

53

staccati in this figure are for light accents. JB

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SDG 08-208 • Nocturne in G# Minor

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SDG 08-208 • Nocturne in G# Minor

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SDG 08-208 • Nocturne in G# Minor

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SDG 08-208 • Nocturne in G# Minor

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SDG 08-208 • Nocturne in G# Minor

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SDG 08-208 • Nocturne in G# Minor

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SDG 08-208 • Nocturne in G# Minor

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SDG 08-208 • Nocturne in G# Minor

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SDG 08-208 • Nocturne in G# Minor

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SDG 08-208 • Nocturne in G# Minor

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SDG 08-208 • Nocturne in G# Minor

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SDG 08-208 • Nocturne in G# Minor

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SDG 08-208 • Nocturne in G# Minor

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