Soliloquies

Soliloquies are re-workings of three songs I wrote for soprano and piano; the first two were settings of poetry by Denise Levertov and the last a setting of William Wordsworth, commissioned by the Presteigne Festival in 2012. The reworking suggested new expressive directions, and whilst the solo trumpet mostly takes the voice part from the original material, it is re-imagined in this new instrumental context. This gave me the opportunity to explore the more intimate and reflective qualities of the solo trumpet, rather than its better-known declamatory character – hence the title ‘soliloquies’. There are three movements – the outer ones are more flowing and expressive, and the middle one, introspective and marked ‘Tranquillo’, more like a recitative.

Suggested minimum string strengths:
Vln1. - 4
Vln2. - 3
Vla. - 2
Vc. - 2
Db. - 1