Songs of Morning and Night (2022)
Piano
Duration:
11′
First Performance:
10 February 2023
Duncan Honeybourne, Eastgate Theatre, Peebles, UK
Score
Programme note
The Songs of Morning and Night carry on my current preoccupation with the transfiguration of material from one state of being to something different, perhaps more spiritual and beautiful than the original. These short pieces transfigure snippets of existing, well-known pieces into something more reflective, resonant and timeless (though not without some humour and pithiness). The six transfigured pieces are split into three aubades (‘songs of the morning’) and three nocturnes (‘songs of the night’) and transfigure folksongs, popular songs, a lied and an opera aria. As well as being transfigurations, the Songs of Morning and Night are also piano studies of sorts, with the aubades exploring the lower registers of the piano and nocturnes the upper, à la Bartók’s concept of ‘night music’.
PAC
