Piano Solo - Digital Download
SKU: A0.1033214
Composed by Mark Wilson. Contemporary. Score. 27 pages. Mark Wilson #6268685. Published by Mark Wilson (A0.1033214).
When my friend, the composer and pianist Neil Crossland, asked me to write a work for him to perform, he requested that I give the piece a distinctly Scottish flavour. Perhaps as a consequence, hailing from Scotland as I do, the resulting work is distinctly autobiographical in nature. This is a challenging piece, aimed at advanced players.
The four movements reflect the preoccupations of four stages of (my) life as seen in hindsight. The word dimensions in the piece's title refers to facets of my own character.
The first movement, Complications, represents the self-image of the young. The music is adventurous and academic, full of the potential of a life yet to be lived and the earnest self obsession of youth.
The second movement, Romance, is the search for love, though seen through the lens of memory and therefore touched with sadness.
The third, Transience, shows the uncertainties of middle age, so full of frustration and of nostalgia. This movement contains my setting of the Jacobian poem Will Ye No Come Back Again?.
The last movement, Revelry, blows away the uncertainties of the third movement with the driving energy of a Scottish reel. Perhaps increasing age brings a certain perspective; what does it matter if you have more past than future? Just get up and dance and let Dr. Music sweep your cares away.
The piece features a musical fragment (first heard in bar 26 of the first movement) which has been the cause of much amusement between Neil Crossland and myself over the years. Neil has been composing music since his teens but the art has only much more recently become a big part of my life. However, musical ideas have always had a tendency to come into my head and, several years ago, I decided to play these two bars to Neil. Every so often, in the years that followed, he would teasingly ask me how my new piece was coming on, knowing full well that I'd have to admit that my magnum opus was still only two bars long! By setting the melodic fragment at the heart of this composition I have finally ensured that he can tease me about it no longer. More importantly, I hope that Neil enjoys our little in-joke.
The audio file for this work is beautifully performed by the work's dedicatee, Neil Crossland.
