Allusion, Introspection and Ascension (2011)
(Three Pieces for Solo Piano)

I: Barcarole Allusion
II: Schubert: 1828, an introspection
III: The Petrarch Ascension

These 3 pieces for solo piano re-interpret harmonic progressions taken from great classics of 19th Century solo piano literature. The first piece, Barcarole Allusion, was written for Stephen McIntyre’s 70th birthday concert and based on 4 chromatic chords hiding quietly in the middle of Chopin’s well-known work.

The second and third pieces were written at the invitation of Ian Holtham to accompany their originals in concert. Schubert: 1828, an introspection is based on 6 progressions (of between 2 to 7 chords) from the 4th movement of his final Sonata D960, re-ordering them in an organically expanding cycle. The Petrarch Ascension takes the second of Liszt’s Three Petrarch Sonnets – No.104, and presents its rising melodic sequence in slow–motion leading to an ecstatic, compressed revelation at the climax.

All 3 pieces are exclusively based on these ‘borrowed’ notes in the same keys in which they were originally composed; and while intentionally re-interpreted within my own compositional idiom, hopefully some semblance of the originals can still be discerned.