Piano Trio

Piano Trio (2000)
Programme notes © F L Dunkin Wedd

Township Stomp; Slow; Morrish Dance; Finale

The first – very short - movement and opens with a spiky chordal figure with piano and strings echoing each other. A second subject is introduced with an offbeat accompaniment, a lazy bluesy figure that evokes South African heat. The first figure returns, somewhat changed, to end this short opening movement.

The second movement features a romantic melody over strumming piano chords. Painful harmonies introduce a note of disquiet, and this feeling persists in fractured and violent figures. Then a new romantic melody enters, strongly related to the first, but tinged with the tragedy that has been experienced. Violence and fracture return, then the strumming theme – somehow even sadder for the transformations it has passed through.

The third movement is a morris dance – pure folk music but with a twist. With each of the several variations an extra bar of music is added, and harmonies get more complex.

Finally, is a movement which brings all the above elements together – lazy blues, folk styles, romantic melodies touched by tragedy and violence. The optimistic melodies try to win out against the surrounding chaos – and perhaps they do. Or perhaps they only seem to.

FLDW