Preludes, book 1

Programme Notes In 2004 the guitarist Michael McCartney asked me to write “a few American preludes” for the guitar, reflecting the nostalgia of this expatriate American guitarist, who lives in Wales.  I agreed, and so began what came to be a series of 24 preludes for guitar, one in each key. The first prelude in C major does quote America the Beautiful, using the descending perfect 4^th of the phrase with brotherhood, but mostly the preludes were stylistically freely composed as the mood struck me. Certain other of the preludes do contain structural references to American “style”, such as Ragtime, but most utilize classical and romantic structural forms/languages borrowed and expanded. The set is composed using the upward chromatic order of the keys, with occasionally the relative minors, beginning in C major and ending in B Major. It may be played in the order written as a set, but the individual preludes may be grouped in any order, as desired for performance. Once begun, the series of preludes expanded until three sets were completed in 2014 - seventy-two preludes - three complete books of preludes in each key.

As I believe the guitar is the most difficult instrument to write for, the assistance of Michael McCartney, to whom this first volume is dedicated, has been crucial in editing each prelude, and also the assistance of my life-long friend David Starobin, who worked editing the preludes (and recorded several) when Michael was unavailable. It is difficult for me to overstate the creative value of guitarists and composers working together. The expansion and extension of the repertoire demands it.

William Bland was born in 1947, in West Virginia. He graduated from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, where his composition teachers were Ernst Krenek, Benjamin Less, Richard Rodney Bennett and Earle Brown.

His earlier compositions were principally for chamber music combinations, but since 1998 his works have concentrated almost exclusively on compositions for either guitar or piano. His close friendship with David Starobin, as well as acquaintance with many other guitarists, greatly enriched and expanded his appreciation of the instrument.  As a pianist, during the 1960s and 70s he played professionally for the theater, then later taught at Brooklyn College. Returning to West Virginia, he has been a community musician, while freely composing. He has recorded two of his twenty-four piano sonatas for Bridge Records, and is also a poet, his first published collection having recently been issued by Igneus Press in Texas.