About the creation

In 1973, my composition Patterns was chosen to be the set piece at the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition. Mr. Bistritzky, director of the competition, suggested that I compose another piece and dedicate it to the Maestro personally. Thus d’Apres une mazurka came to be written. The Maestro acknowledged the work in a very warm and friendly letter to me but, much to my regret, due to his already failing sight, he has never given it a public performance. Rubinstein was one of the greatest performers of Chopin’s music and has recorded all of his Mazurkas. The mazurka op. 24 no. 2 in the Lydian mode, was rather his favorite and he said so in his letter to me. In the original version of my work, I used several motifs of this mazurka by Chopin but treated them only as slight hints. The general style of my work is clearly and deliberately of the 20th century. Fourteen years later, in 1987, my friend the pianist David Dolan, suggested that I broaden the scope of the composition by adding several more motifs from Chopin’s mazurka and so I wrote a fresh and enlarged version of d’Apres une mauzrka. Though the opening of both versions is similar yet generally they differ greatly from each other. It is most desirable that the pianist who is about to study the piece be well acquainted with Chopin’s op. 24 no. 2. I would suggest that at a concert performance, the Chopin mazurka be played first and one of the versions of my composition should follow. In my opinion, performance of both versions of d’Apres une mauzrka is only suitable on such occasions as a lesson or as illustration to a lecture. Haim Alexander