Thanks to:
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Short (&) Suite began life as a test-piece for a later work; Echoic Memories for piano, cello and electronics. I wound up liking the material enough to develop it further in its own right… into this Suite.
Each movement tries to develop one simple idea. The first is the most complex: the first 27 of its 31 bars is a series of intermingled musical fragments which are an abstract deconstruction of the final four-bar phrase. From an oblique opening the (very short) second and third movements are more linear and flowing. The mood in general is fairly dark but the piece ends gently with a nocturnal coda. It is dedicated to Pauline Fairclough as scant return for a kind gift… (a cello). The piece was completed in 2013 but revised at the start of 2016 with input from Heather Bills (Okeanos Ensemble). This was made possible because of a grant from the University of Bristol Alumni Travel Grant for which I am grateful |