16. PARNASSUS, THE ABODE OF THE MUSES

This etude utilizes material from six etudes I wrote between 1987 and 1994. The first of these was an experiment in transposing typically Rumanian melodic fragments into the unusual key of Ab minor, looking for resultant uses of the open E string (as Fb) and the open B string (as Cb). A pair of etudes written in 1988 continued this search for new sonorities using open strings, one concieved on guitar, the other on the balalaika. Later, a fourth etude was written as a reworking of the balalaika piece on guitar. In 1994 I finished the group with two more etudes, one inspired by the music of Richard Strauss and the other a reworking of the 1987 piece in Ab minor, written to allow for a shifting tonal center. This final piece is a summary of the ideas explored in those six etudes.