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- Thea Musgrave
Piccolo Play (Version for Piccolo and Strings) (2021)
- Novello & Co Ltd (World)
This orchestral version of Piccolo Play was commissioned by the National Flute Association in celebration of its 50th anniversary, initiated by the NFA Piccolo Committee and made possible with generous donations from: James Keefe and Janet Kinmonth of Keefe Piccolos Burkart Flutes and Piccolos Chair of the NFA Piccolo Committee, Laurie Sokoloff
Programme Note
I. L’Enchanteresse
II. L’Amphibie
III. La Pateline
IV. Les Papillons
V. Le Reveil-matin
VI. Le Bruit de Guerre
VII. Le Turbulent
The titles of the movements of Piccolo Play are all taken from harpsichord pieces of Couperin. In each movement, the piccolo is the protagonist of the title and the strings provide the ‘setting’ or background. Thus, in L’amphibie the strings represent the pool on which the frog leaps from leaf to leaf, disturbing the water as he goes. In Le Reveil-matin, the strings are the ones who sleep and the piccolo the alarm clock who forces them to wake. In La Pateline (the wheedler), the piccolo is softly insistent, but ultimately becomes angry as his pleas are disregarded. Le Bruit de Guerre was suggested by Manet’s The Fifer. Here the combination of different marches becomes increasingly anarchic and innocence is overwhelmed. The end is silence, with distant echoes of the Dies Irae.
Programme note by Thea Musgrave