Miniatures
These little pieces were composed for cellist Christopher Hutton and pianist Thomas Lausmann at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester New York, in 1996. Christopher and Thomas performed this cycle frequently in the United States and also on tour in New Zealand.
The three movements are written in contrasting but complementary styles. The first is enigmatic and reflective and written according to ‘serial’ principles. It employs the same material in both instruments, though at varying speeds and with different articulation.
The second movement is very tonal and ‘balletic’ in a somewhat tongue-in-cheek manner, and the third (for which I do not have a satisfactory recording) is songlike and impressionistic.
While the music is quintessentially Romantic it does not have an actual programme. Sometimes energetic, sometimes reflective in mood, it could suggest a dreamlike yearning for the future. Yet the manner in which it seems to pluck familiar gestures and fragments out of the air could also suggest fond reflection on past events.
Chanda’s violin teacher decided the technical demands of the music were still a little beyond her, but I was keen that she should hear the music her mother had commissioned.
I am indebted to Jennifer Bogart for her generous offer to present and record the world premiere. This took place on November 3, 2005 at the Unitarian Church, 13th East and 6th South, Salt Lake City, Utah, as part of a series called the ‘Contemporary Music Consortium’.
Her performance received three curtain calls and a laudatory review in the Deseret Morning News. Critic Edward Reichel commented on the “restrained passion and understatement” that characterised her performance – exactly what this music requires!
Christopher Marshall
November 2005