The Running of the Bulls

Running of the Bulls is a brisk piano solo exploring the interplay between alternating hands, bitonality, and harmonic parallelism. With directions such as violente and furioso, there is little doubt as to how savagely brutalist this piece should be performed. Ripping glissandos, pounding ostinati, and hammering blows there are plenty of showcasing, impressive special effects which can be heard in the orchestration that was made of this piece.

Yet the piano solo version underlines the percussive nature of gratuitous dissonance and jubilant ferocity achieved by harmonizing sections exclusively diatonically or with every note with its own major chords (even if they are foreign to the key of the piece or vary tonal centers). Orchestral in nature, this piece utilizes the full extent of the piano’s range.

The solo work is an experimental tour de force with no slow, subtle sections contrasting the intense fury that torrent of raining notes build, explode and progress towards, as the dynamics increase into a tremendous glissando-ing section bringing the brisk, primal dance to a chillingly exciting and climactic grand close in ffff dynamics and strong rhythms.