Philip Glass Etude 16 fingering

Question

Fellow pianists, what’s your way of playing motifs from the 16th etude by Philip Glass?

I mean the

• d-e flat-d-c sharp-double d; and
• d-e flat-d-c-double b flat?

M1

M2

Sorry it is typeset across the line only.

Answer 1

Excerpt 1

Option A

For the first excerpt — D-Eb-D-C# D:D — the critical element is using finger 2 on the C#. It's not an easy movement to the following octave, particularly getting finger 5 in place on time, but that's the way to do it. The first three notes are a matter of comfort. 3-4-3 or 1-3-1 are both good options.

Option B

A second possibility, if absolutely necessary, would be to use the thumb on C# and then "slide" over the following D. In that case, the fingering would be 2-3-2-1 1:5.

Excerpt 2

Here again, finger 2 on C is the key element. The movement to be Bb octave is tricky because of the need for the short thumb to travel all the way to the Bb. In this case, 1-3-1-2 1:5 is probably best, because it allows the thumb to be close to the Bb right from the beginning. Just make sure when playing the D, the thumb is close to the front edge of the Eb.