Sally Beamish - Catalogue
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Catalogue
Capriccio (1988)
Programme Note available
Sally Beamish
Commissioned by Graham Sheen.
First performance:
Graham Sheen (bsn); Sally Beamish (pf), Canford Music Festival, 01 Jan 1988
Recording / Location: sound archive - C-Beam 2 aiii [enquire]
Recording / Location: sound archive - C-XZ 281 A [enquire]
Score : British Double Reed Society / Location: ref library [buy]
Programme Note availableSally Beamish
Commissioned by Graham Sheen.
First performance:
Graham Sheen (bsn); Sally Beamish (pf), Canford Music Festival, 01 Jan 1988
Work Details
Category: chamber duo
Duration: 5'
Instrumentation: Bsn Pf
Duration: 5'
Instrumentation: Bsn Pf
SMC Holdings
Recording / Location: sound archive - C-Beam 2 aiii [enquire]
Recording / Location: sound archive - C-XZ 281 A [enquire]
Score : British Double Reed Society / Location: ref library [buy]Programme Note
Bassoon solos in orchestral music have always held a special poignancy for me - something in the rich but plaintive sound is always arresting and somehow dignified. Perhaps it has something in common with my own instrument, the viola.
When Graham Sheen suggested I write a short piece for bassoon and piano I was immediately attracted by the idea of exploring the possibilities of the bassoon combined with the totally separate sound-world of the piano.
Writing for a bassoonist such as Graham meant that I could stretch the instrument to its limits, and I decided to be quite uncompromising in the demands I made.
Capriccio is, therefore, a virtuoso piece, using the entire range of the instrument, sometimes within a single phrase.
The two instruments interact in various ways. Both sustain cantabile lines; and I have used unisons between bassoon and piano, giving a dry attack to the fullness of the bassoon tone. In other places the piano provides a foil to the bassoon, with sparkling arpeggios in a high register. Counterpoints between the two instruments, in staccato, show their sounds as almost similar.
As sometimes happens with a short, concentrated excursion into unfamiliar territory, Capriccio enabled me to explore new compositional techniques within a manageable format, and I see it as the first piece in the language that I have now established as my own.
Sally Beamish
Bassoon solos in orchestral music have always held a special poignancy for me - something in the rich but plaintive sound is always arresting and somehow dignified. Perhaps it has something in common with my own instrument, the viola.
When Graham Sheen suggested I write a short piece for bassoon and piano I was immediately attracted by the idea of exploring the possibilities of the bassoon combined with the totally separate sound-world of the piano.
Writing for a bassoonist such as Graham meant that I could stretch the instrument to its limits, and I decided to be quite uncompromising in the demands I made.
Capriccio is, therefore, a virtuoso piece, using the entire range of the instrument, sometimes within a single phrase.
The two instruments interact in various ways. Both sustain cantabile lines; and I have used unisons between bassoon and piano, giving a dry attack to the fullness of the bassoon tone. In other places the piano provides a foil to the bassoon, with sparkling arpeggios in a high register. Counterpoints between the two instruments, in staccato, show their sounds as almost similar.
As sometimes happens with a short, concentrated excursion into unfamiliar territory, Capriccio enabled me to explore new compositional techniques within a manageable format, and I see it as the first piece in the language that I have now established as my own.
Sally Beamish