Output details

Sonata for violin and piano

My first-hand knowledge of violin/viola technique meant that this piece was unlikely to cause insuperable technical problems for Ruth Palmer (for whom it was written), but this technical knowledge was of only limited use for my goal of constructing a musical environment in which the visceral power of the piano could be fully utilised whilst not obliterating the violin. Hence the tendency for the piano part to operate towards the extremities of the keyboard, leaving a space in between for the violin. The slow movement ('Passacaglia') – with not a violin melody anywhere – was, in some respects, one of the hardest pieces I have ever written; everything hangs on the precise weight of touch from the piano’s tightening and relaxing harmonies. Perhaps not all listeners will notice, but it amuses me (in a good way) that the piano’s 'moto perpetuo' semiquaver sequence (7 bars in length) drops by a semitone, again and again, at the start of the final movement.

Commissioned by the Lakeside Arts Centre (Nottingham); first performed by Ruth Palmer (violin) and Alexei Grynyuk (piano), Djanogly Recital Hall, Nottingham, 27 March 2010.