In Spectre Search

I    Allegro with spectral adagio
II   Adagio with spectral scherzo
III  Variations on a spectral theme

The three movements of this work for violin and viola consist of a dialogue between material which is to the fore and spectral material which is fragmentary, quieter and played sul ponticello. Towards the end of the first movement this spectral material attempts to burst through, and succeeds in the second, only to be presented in its most elusive form in the third.

The idea of two co-existing narratives which occasionally interact was suggested by Umberto Eco’s novel Focault’s Pendulum, in which the accepted progress of Western European history is made to coexist and interact with a spurious alternative.

The work was written for the 1995 Festival of Contemporary Music at the New England Conservatoire,  Boston, USA and was premiered there on 28 January 1995 by Emma Doggeett (violin) and Ryan Walter (viola).

Philip Grange