In Sunlight for Violin and Piano

From the Publisher

The composer writes: The structure is a short set of double variations, the two themes following a short introduction. One is flamboyant and rhetorical, the other gentle and lyrical. The first develops rhythmically, through a toccata to a vigorous dance, the second becomes increasingly decorated so that the line is almost dissolved, but finally emerges in its clearest, simplest form. In a coda each musical character disappears into silence.

Programme Notes:
In this short piece for violin and piano I have tried to suggest both the dazzling brightness and the hazy langour of sunlight, its tendency to exaggerate details harshly or, equally, to dissolve it in shimmering blur.

The structure is a short set of double variations, the two themes following a short introduction.One is flamboyant and rhetorical, the other gentle and lyrical. The first develops rhythmically, through a toccata to a vigorous dance, the second becomes increasingly decorated so that the line is almost dissolved, but finally emerges in its clearest, simplest form. In a coda each musical character disappears into silence.

In Sunlight was written in May 1993 to a commission from Madeleine Mitchell, and I am grateful to her for technical advice about the violin part. She gave the first performance, with John Lenehan (piano), in the Purcell Room, London on 5 July 1993.

Performance duration (approx): 7'00

Item Details

Instrumentation

• Part 1: Violin
• Part 2: Piano