April 21st

Programme Notes

 

This piece was written for Richard Watkins in celebration of his 60th birthday. The opening is calm and spacious. Both instruments hold an expansive, focused presence. To contrast, a lively, spirited section follows, the piano and horn musically dancing around one another. Through-composed, the final section is slow, reflective and hopeful, with a dreamy, eternal quality. I focused on the beauty and lyricism of the sound of the sustained horn, accompanied by a delicate, pulsating and harmonically slow-moving piano part.

 

Performance Notes

 

The horn is notated at sounding pitch in the piano part.