DUOS
DIVERSIONS for Violin and Viola
1. Con Brio
2. Adagio Calmato
3. Andante Teneramente
4. Vivace
YEAR: 2020
DURATION: 10′
INSTRUMENTATION: Violin and Viola
SELECTED PERFORMANCES:
Cheshire Chamber Collective, 8th February 2024 at St. Michael and All Angels Church, Macclesfield
NOTES: Written for friends during the COVID-19 lock-downs, with memories of enjoying the third movement of Beethoven's ‘Harp’ quartet, Op. 74 with its prominent semitones. The first movement uses octatonic scales (alternating semitones and tones). Modal harmonies come to the fore in the second and third movements, but the semitones make a return in the final, vigorous movement.
ORPHEUS WITH HIS LUTE for Soprano and Cello
YEAR: 2020
DURATION: 2′
INSTRUMENTATION: Soprano and Cello
NOTES: Written for a friend during the COVID-19 lock-downs, this is a setting of text from Henry VIII, a collaborative history play written by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher.