for piano or harpsichord

Although TOCCATA was originally conceived for harpsichord, the 6-minute showpiece is notably pianistic. It is full of pedaling, surging and swelling hairpin dynamics, and dramatic effects in the extreme registers. As with baroque toccatas, Ewazens main theme is an energetic perpetual motion with repeated and stable anchoring notes. However the overall work is a dramatic argument between that central theme and opposing harmonic styles, long notes interrupting the rapid fire, and a tug-of-war between triplets and sixteenths.