instrumentation

• the range of the piano

  the full range of the piano is used. from B to over three octaves below middle C to the A# over three octaves above
• what is m.d.

  right hand
• what is m.g.

  left hand
• what does the pianoist have to do in the introduction

  the pianist needs to cross hands to play the notes, with the left hand rising above the right
• what is required throughout

  piano
• what creates contrast in bar 15

  pedal in no longer held and comes up
• what bar is a clear example of the entire range of the piano being utilised

  bar 22
• what does the pianist play for the first melodic idea

  the pianist only uses the black notes because it is a pentatonic scale
• where is a low c used in the bass

  bar 73
• where is an example of the entire piano being used

  the coda, bar 78-end, in the rippling arpeggio figure of the right hand
• what happens in bar 41?

  the music gradually builds to a fortissimo climaz
• what do the left hand and right hand do in bar 41?

  play the same music an octave apart
• what do the dynamics do in bar 91?

  become extremely quiet. encore plus pp (still more pianissimo) is used
• bar 91 what are the dynamics in the bass

  the bass descends to a bottom octave b as the music is marked "as quiet as possible"
• how does the piece end?

  the dynamics fade to "aussi pp que possible" (also pp where possible) and it has to be super quiet. the final bar is noted "laissez vibrer" (let it vibrate) so it is supposed to just fade away and the sustained pedal is depressed
• what does the higher register immitate

  flute like and higher bells and gongs of gamelan
• what does the lower register imitate

  large gongs.

  the sustained pedal is used to make a resonant sonority associated with gongs
• what is una corda pedal

  mute.

  it has the effet of making a distant sound, so the sound is resonant and sonorous but not loud