Endless Song

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Length / year

7' - 1999

Instrumentation

solo piano

Performance history

First Performance
North Wales Music Festival
20th September 1999
Iwan Llewelyn Jones - piano

First Broadcast
BBC Radio 3
21st September 2000
Iwan Llewelyn Jones - piano

London Premiere
Wigmore Hall
25th September 2000
Iwan Llewelyn Jones - piano

Australian Premiere
National Library of Australia
29th October 2000
Suzanne Powell - piano

Irish Premiere
Drogheda
20th March 2007
Ivan Ilic - piano

French Premiere
Grand Salon du musee en l'Hotel national des Invalides, Paris
7th May 2007
Ivan Ilic - piano

Scottish Premiere
Blanefield Carbeth Guthrie Estate (charity concert for Acorns Children's Hospice)
1st November 2007
Ivan Ilic - piano

US Premiere
Old First Concerts, San Francisco, USA
13th February 2009
Ivan Ilic - piano

Programme note

'Endless Song', a short work for solo piano in a single movement, was written within the space of two days during a happy and productive stay in one of the artists' studios at the Banff Centre for the Arts, Canada during May 1999.

Like my string orchestra work 'Dances from Forgotten Places' it explores aesthetic areas that are not normally associated with contemporary music, in this instance serenity and tranquillity. The piece represents a further departure for me since the opening melody has a strophic feel. Yet despite its apparent simplicity there are no exact repeats in the work and the simple melody based on a rocking movement of thirds continues to evolve throughout against a reiterated patteren of bass notes. The endlessness of the song is given further meaning in an extended coda.

'Endless Song' was commissioned by the North Wales Music Festival with funds made available by the Arts Council of Wales. The first performance was given by Iwan Llewelyn-Jones, who also gave the London premiere in September 2000. It has been broadcast on Radio 3 and taken up by various pianists across the world. In the summer of 2001 Iwan Llewelyn-Jones recorded the work for Sain.