Strange violin, are you following me?
(2008)
violin and piano
duration: 10'
Friedrich Hofmeister
First performance April 2008
Peter Fisher (vln) Peter Hewitt (pf)
St John's Smith Square, London
| Strange violin, are you following me? was commissioned by Peter Hewitt and Peter Fisher for performance at a concert in aid of Cancerkin at St John's, Smith Square, London, on 27 April 2008.
This work draws its inspiration from the evocative, nocturnal poem, Der Nachbar (The Neighbour), by the German poet, Rainer Maria Rilke. Its eerie, elegiac mood pervades the dark, meditative duo in which extended melodic lines intertwine between instruments, seemingly in pursuit of each other. Intensely lyrical, there is a constant pulse that beats a course throughout the work. The poem begins:
Strange violin, are you following me?
In how many distant cities has your
lonely night already spoken to mine?
Are a hundred playing you? Or just one?
© 2008, Cecilia McDowall
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