A Shelter For Imagining (Instrumental Solo)

Taking J. S. Bach’s second Sonata Grave as my starting point, I worked to create something openly

simple and honest. To be inspired by such remarkable, timeless music, presents the composer with

both a delightful and enormous challenge. I conceived the piece akin to dreaming Bach’s music;

tangentially re-creating it through my ears and imagination. Bach’s Grave, if you will, forms a

backdrop, a shelter to the piece.
 

In this particular movement of Bach, shafts of light seem to strike through. I imagine myself looking

out through a window towards the source of the light - sunlight or moonlight, it appears not to

matter, yet, paradoxically, if it is daytime, it is all the more hidden. Within this intimate space resides

a private conversation where speech and thought transmute into music. Delicate turns of attention,

threads of consciousness unravel. The inner voice of the solo instrument is alone, tender, reminiscing….

Bach’s Sonata provided the harmonic starting point, specifically the moving ‘bass line’ of the Grave, mapping

the lowest points and using these as material to form the melodic core of the new work. Rhythms also feature.
Important too are the distinct voices in Bach, the ever-present counterpoint; even in a work for a solo instrument
there is dialogue, a musical conversation.

Duration: 5 minutes