Instrumentation

fl(=picc).cl.perc(1): mar/glsp/2 wdbl/optional crot - pno.vln.vlc

Availability

Score and parts for hire.

Programme Notes

Game I – Fidgety, skittish
Game II – Meccanico ma accelerando
Nocturne – Drifting, malleable

The first two movements (the ‘games’) have a sense of play – the first game alternates skittish piano solos with moments of absolute stasis, before the whole ensemble joins in a bluesy, insectoid jamboree. In the second game, an initially ominous trudge in marimba and piano is incrementally disrupted and sped up to become a fast and volatile rush to the finish.
 
The nocturne that ends the piece is the more sombre older cousin of these games – here insistent, chiming octaves in the glockenspiel and piano are surrounded by gently swaying chords and astringent contributions from piccolo and violin, as the music drifts towards its conclusion.
TC

Two Games and a Nocturne

Concert Hall, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom)

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

Two Games and a Nocturne

Hear and Now: broadcast of 14.11.17 performance

BBC Radio 3 (United Kingdom)

Psappha

Two Games and a Nocturne

MediaCityUK (Salford, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom)

Psappha

Two Games and a Nocturne

Hallé St Michael's, Ancoats (Manchester, United Kingdom)

Psappha