Located in the UK
Located in the USA
Located in Europe
- Cheryl Frances-Hoad
Stolen Rhythm (2009)
- Chester Music Ltd (World)
Programme Note
Song Without Words was commissioned by BBC Radio 3 and premiered by Andrew Zolinsky on the radio in 2009.
I was delighted to be asked to write this piece for Matthew Schellhorn, particularly as in 2009 I'd written a short piano piece for Mendelssohn's anniversary also. When I am asked to write pieces inspired by certain composers, it always makes me realise how little of their music I actually really know, so I promptly embarked on a Haydn Piano Sonata-playing marathon, which I enjoyed immensely. I wanted to write something fast and jolly, since Mendelssohn's tribute had been slow and (hopefully) rather beautiful. I became particularly obsessed with the third movement of Haydn's Sonata in E flat major (Hoboken XVI:45): the way it continually moves forward with a boundless energy and wit still thrills me. It seemed to me that it was the rhythmic content of the movement that gave it these properties, so I decided to shamelessly steal the rhythm hook line and sinker, and simply put my notes to it. Save for a few 11/8 bars (where I've removed one semiquaver from the usual 3/4 bar), the rhythmic content of this piece is entirely Haydn's, running from beginning to end exactly as his sonata movement does. I then played with various transmutations of the notes B, A, D, D, G (generating lots of different sets of pitches by inverting and transposing them etc.) to get the harmonic and melodic content.
© Cheryl Frances-Hoad, 2015
I was delighted to be asked to write this piece for Matthew Schellhorn, particularly as in 2009 I'd written a short piano piece for Mendelssohn's anniversary also. When I am asked to write pieces inspired by certain composers, it always makes me realise how little of their music I actually really know, so I promptly embarked on a Haydn Piano Sonata-playing marathon, which I enjoyed immensely. I wanted to write something fast and jolly, since Mendelssohn's tribute had been slow and (hopefully) rather beautiful. I became particularly obsessed with the third movement of Haydn's Sonata in E flat major (Hoboken XVI:45): the way it continually moves forward with a boundless energy and wit still thrills me. It seemed to me that it was the rhythmic content of the movement that gave it these properties, so I decided to shamelessly steal the rhythm hook line and sinker, and simply put my notes to it. Save for a few 11/8 bars (where I've removed one semiquaver from the usual 3/4 bar), the rhythmic content of this piece is entirely Haydn's, running from beginning to end exactly as his sonata movement does. I then played with various transmutations of the notes B, A, D, D, G (generating lots of different sets of pitches by inverting and transposing them etc.) to get the harmonic and melodic content.
© Cheryl Frances-Hoad, 2015
Media
Reviews
"Frances-Hoad’s implicit trust in the expressive power of her melodic invention and harmonic thinking is paramount.”
These enchanting miniature fantasias (Grieg, Janáček, Schubert, Ravel, Mendelssohn and Bartók in Balkan mode are the other composers honoured) are beautifully played by Ivana Gavrić and, as with Katharsis, showcase Frances-Hoad’s range and appeal as a creator."
Discography
Origins - Ivana Gavrić
- LabelRUBICON
- Catalogue NumberRCD1038
- ConductorKarin Hendrickson
- EnsembleSouthbank Sinfonia
- SoloistIvana Gavrić