Page Turn

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Page Turn is a piece of music for solo piano written by the Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin. It is so named because it is physically impossible to turn the pages during a performance (except perhaps with one's teeth), due to the use of perpetuum mobile textures. The piece was completed at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, the 19th of October, 1999, in Coogee, NSW, according to an inscription on the score. It was written to fulfill a commission by the Sydney International Piano Competition, as one of the three set pieces by Australian composers that entrants had to choose from. However, only one entrant chose it, with all other entrants choosing one of the slower and less technically demanding works offered by Peter Sculthorpe and Carl Vine.

The piece is in the style of a toccata, with alternating hands, repeated notes, and large leaps. The piece does not contain many melodies in the standard sense; instead, musical interest is achieved by using unusual textures and chord progressions, a strong sense of climax, and a sheer immensity of the speed, number of notes, and sonority.

Page Turn is available on the ABC Classics label, along with other works from the 2000 Sydney International Piano Competition. The score is available from the Australian Music Centre.