Rushall Express (1997)
(for Solo Guitar)

Rushall train station was just across the road from where I was living in 1997. When I first started ‘dashing off a quick piece’ for Ken Murray (who was present with guitar in hand during the entire writing process), we jokingly referred to it as a rush job, and so the title stuck. But dozens of sessions (and coffees) later, I began to wonder if the piece would ever be finished. Every little motivic extension or fingering alternative seemed like a set of Russian dolls - each solution containing a few more slightly smaller puzzles. In any event, the title did start to ring true in the sense that the piece endeavors to maintain a ‘train-like’ propulsion throughout. The premiere performance was given by Ken on 21 June 1997 at Monash Uniting Church.

Stuart Greenbaum