for solo piano
duration 5’ 15”

The chorale that Igor Stravinsky composed in memory of Claude Debussy (which eventually became the closing section of his Symphonies of Wind Instruments) served as the inspirational jumping-off point for this piece. Like Symphonies, Shards of a Purple Crystal is based on the chorale that appears at its end. Pieces of the closing chorale and several contrasting sections are intermingled throughout until the chorale is eventually presented in its entirety to end the piece. Shards of a Purple Crystal also uses the harmonic series to create a ‘shimmering’ of extra notes that rise up out of the harmonies in the piece.