Esquisses for piano

Greetings to you all, on an introspective new moon day.

Thanks to those of you who supported my recent Blackheath recital, performing with the phenomenally talented pianist Julie Adam, and mezzo-soprano, Elizabeth Cooper. In a project to push my comfort zone, Elizabeth and I sang duets, arias and lieder, wonderfully supported by Julie. One of the project’s unexpected delights was having the opportunity to premiere three new short piano “sketches” - Esquisses in French - written especially for Julie.

Before relocating to the Blue Mountains in 2010, Julie Adam studied and lived in the UK, winning early a number of prestigious awards and scholarships. Her performing career as solo pianist has taken her to Europe and the USA and she has recorded extensively as soloist and ensemble player for the BBC and the ABC. Most notably, Julie is one of the foremost interpreters of the 20th century Swiss composer Frank Martin, having recorded his entire works for piano, available here on the ABC Classics label.

In short, Julie is a world-class talent, and someone I feel very privileged to write for. The Esquisses are short works based on just a few musical ideas, minimally developed. They arose from my desire to learn to work faster; to create pieces that I wouldn’t feel I had to fuss over endlessly. “Just sketch it and move on” was the theory. In practice, I can’t be quite so cavalier as all that, but it’s nevertheless been delightfully instructive to bring my works to Julie and discover how much variety can be created within small forms.

I hope you enjoy these live recordings from the day. Please forgive the odd ambient sounds. Here are my first three Esquisses for piano.

Rowen