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Nocturnal, for solo piano (1989) This work has its origins in my Piano Concerto, written in 1983. In one movement, the central section of the concerto is calm and flowing, with the pianist playing toccata-like figurations in quintuplets and the orchestra playing in common time. The main motivic material, an ancient Japanese melody, is given to the orchestra. Almost all my piano music is written for the enjoyment of playing it. The outer sections of the concerto, however, are beyond my technical abilities. On the other hand, after writing it I spent many hours playing its central section. In 1989 I decided to extract this from the work, treating it as a solo piece in its own right and calling it Nocturnal. Some adjustments were made at the beginning and a short coda was added to the end. Peter Sculthorpe