As the audience entered the auditorium, pianist Richard Valitutto was playing William Duckworth's "Time Curve Preludes," works of deceptive simplicity.
A similar density saturated Kaija Saariaho's "Ballade" and "Prelude," brief works in which a composer besotted with acoustic mystery fondly embraced traditional forms without sacrificing her characteristic sophistication.
As a prelude to working on the Seattle Public Library, he conducted a three-month study, traveling to check out libraries in Europe and the United States, then producing a book that includes, as he puts it, "everything from first impressions to analysis of what is wrong with libraries".
Like "Prelude," this work concerned more than virtuosity.
One of his works, "Prelude in Fugue," had its premiere last July at Riverside Church in New York.
Before the performance the Russian pianist Sergey Schepkin will offer a prelude event with works by Shostakovich and Bach.
The late 19th century witnessed a revival of the Lutheran chorale prelude with major works by Johannes Brahms (e.g., Opus 122) and Max Reger.
This sculpture, while technically good, is somewhat pedestrian and hardly serves as a prelude to the work of Claus Sluter, who worked for Charles V's brother Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy.
"Prelude," a group work created in 1981 and revised in 1983, showed off the company's ability to balance.
Mr. Lucas's best-known work, "Prelude to a Kiss," had been both a popular play on Broadway and a Hollywood movie.
