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Toccata by John Sharpley

Toccata No. 1 from Triptych (2009; rev. 2013) By John Sharpley The Toccata, the opening movement of Triptych, is a vibrant and propulsive work built upon low resonance and emerging repeated-note figures. Its motoric energy recalls the biting drive of Prokofiev’s toccata style, yet Sharpley’s voice remains distinctly his own. The piano writing demands lightness, clarity, and finely articulated fingerwork — precision not merely as a technical requirement, but as a vehicle for rhythmic vitality. The concluding page reveals Sharpley’s careful shaping of energy across the movement’s arc. A meticulously marked accelerando — from crotchet = 72 through successive gradations — gathers controlled momentum toward the striking final instruction: almost losing control. When asked about this gesture, Sharpley chuckled and traced its lineage to Artur Schnabel, whose editions of Beethoven’s piano sonatas accompanied him throughout his childhood. That early immersion in long-range structural thinking and expressive inevitability continues to inform Sharpley’s writing today — where precision serves not restraint, but release. John Sharpley is an American-born composer, pianist, and educator based in Singapore. His works reflect a deep engagement with the piano tradition while maintaining a distinctive contemporary voice. Alongside this lineage, Sharpley’s fascination with Kathmandu, Nepal — its mysticism, spiritual atmosphere, and the resonant sonorities of Himalayan singing bowls — informs his imaginative sound world. These influences do not appear as literal quotations, but rather as a sensitivity to resonance, space, and sustained sonority. In Triptych, precision of craft underpins energy and lyricism, while an awareness of colour and resonance suggests a more contemplative, almost ritualistic dimension beneath the surface vitality.