Notturno dalle Fiamme del Inferno
(Præludium & Ricercare Chromatica)

First performed by Clive Williamson at the University of Manchester May 2005

I. PRÆLUDIUM
II. RICERCARE CHROMATICA

A Dungeon horrible, on all sides round
As one great Furnace flam’d, yet from those flames
No light, but rather darkness visible
Serv’d only to discover sights of woe...
_{(John Milton: Paradise Lost, Book 1)}

Notturno dalle fiamme dell’inferno is the second work composed as part of my Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) project Confronting the Contemporary Piano. It began as a request from Clive Williamson to write a short piece to feature in his One-Minute Wonders concert given at the University of Surrey in March 2005. For this occasion I wrote the Præludium. Ricercare Chromatica was added shortly afterwards and the two movements combine to form something along the lines of a prelude and fugue. Præludium, which may be performed separately, unfolds a C-sharp based chord from the centre of the piano outwards to its extremities. This provides the launching point for the Ricercare, which develops from this sonority into a movement of intense contrapuntal complexity.

Camden Reeves