Invocation (2010)

Invocation was originally the second movement of Melancholia, my first piano trio, written in 1999.

The piano trio is based on Melancholy, a painting by Edvard Munch that formed part of his Frieze of Life. Munch described the Frieze as a “poem of life, love and death”, and Melancholy, which depicts a man (sometimes thought to be the artist himself) looking out at the sea and oppressive sky, concludes the first of the three sections of paintings called Love blossoms and dies.

I had written a chamber opera, with all manner of instruments at my disposal, before starting my piano trio. In Melancholia I aimed at producing a much sparser music (at many points simply a melody with chordal accompaniment) in an attempt to prove to myself that I could still convey a great deal of emotion with only those notes that were absolutely necessary. – Frances-Hoad


In 2007 Cheryl arranged this movement for solo cello, six cellos and double bass at the suggestion of cellist Leonid Gorokhov, to record on her first CD, The Glory Tree.

Since then she also arranged the work for double bass and piano, and used it as a middle movement in Songs and Dances which Cheryl later arranged for violin and piano at the request of Fenella Humphreys to record as Sonatina on her and Nicola Eimer's So Many Stars CD.

Finally, Cheryl also arranged Invocation for cello and string orchestra (under the title of Invocation for Yodit) in memory of Yodit Tekle as part of Martin's Anderson's Music for My Love project.