Hilary Brooks: Marie Curie [download]

For two pianos. From the PianoPiano project, a collection evoking the spirit of ten remarkable women.

Computer typeset score (14p) saved as pdf for immediate download.

This musical portrait is of the first woman to be awarded a Nobel prize, Marie Curie. In fact, she was awarded two. The first one she shared with her husband Pierre Curie in recognition of their work on Radiation, the second honoured her discovery of Polonium, which she named after her native Poland.

Widowed at only 39, she subsequently had an affair with a fellow, married scientist, which scandalized the French establishment. For this reason and the fact she was a woman, Marie was refused entry to the French Academy of Sciences.

In this piece one train of thought leads to another and another, sometimes going somewhere, sometimes nowhere in particular... searching...like the scientific process itself.

Recording available on CD.