Instrumentation

Availability

A4 facsimile score (fp) 0-571-55576-4, piano score and parts (fp) 0-571-55577-2 on sale

Programme Notes

In the first part the strings spell out a version of the chaconne (a continuously repeated motive) in octaves while the piano plays improvisatorily against them; the second (and longest) part is a slow melodic crescendo and decrescendo in which the chaconne theme passes from instrument to instrument: the piano does not enter until the mid-point; in the third part the piano turns its first-part improvisation into a toccata-like presto. The combination of string trio with the left hand only of the piano was not specifically influence by a one-handed pianist (although hearing Leon Fleisher in recent years has been inspiring – he gave the first American performance of this piece in Washington in March 1992) but is, rather, a solution to the notorious difficulty of achieving balance within the ensemble – although I am very aware that a number of composers have solved that particular problem with ease!

Three-part Chaconne lasts around nine minutes, and was commissioned by the Nash Ensemble with financial assistance from IBM UK Ltd.

Colin Matthews

Three part Chaconne

No Venue (Oxford, United Kingdom)

Ovid Ensemble

Three part Chaconne

BBC Radio 3 (United Kingdom)

Friend/Nash Ensemble

Three part Chaconne

BBC (United Kingdom)

Nash Ensemble

Three part Chaconne

Purcell Room, Southbank Centre (London, United Kingdom)

Nash Ensemble

Three part Chaconne

No Venue (Bethesda, MD, USA)

Fleischer/Theatre Chamber Players