Tune of the Day: Intermezzo by Paul Merkus
Today's piece was kindly contributed to our collection by its composer, Paul Merkus from the Netherlands. It was originally written for piano solo in 1998.
The piece opens with a tranquil low-register musing that, after 16 bars, blossoms into a higher register and builds to a climax with a somewhat freer accompaniment. After this climax, the opening theme concludes. The interlude of this “Intermezzo” is a simple melody in the major mode that flows peacefully along with a quiet accompaniment of broken chords in the left hand. After a mysterious transition back to the minor key, the tranquility culminates in the exciting chorale in the piano. The whole then lightens somewhat when the flute comes back with a fantasy of scale figures, culminating in the piece's apotheosis: a grand conclusion with a reprise of the opening theme, but now in a maestoso style.