Programme Notes: Instrumental Solo
Violinist Anna Downes
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Piano
Violin and Piano
Solo Trumpet
Piano
SONATINA FOR PIANO Opus 3 (1974)
Duration 9'
3 movements
Andrew Downes’ Sonatina for Piano, the composer’s op.3, was composed in 1974. Downes had only recently completed his studies at the Royal College of Music with Herbert Howells, who wrote of him: “In a quiet but strong way one of the most effective composers coming to me these days. I have very considerable hopes for him.” Malcolm Wilson premiered the Sonatina at the Birmingham School of Music and the work was subsequently included as one of the recommended works at the 1997 Concours Franco-Italien in Paris. Duncan Honeybourne gave the first broadcast performance, from Birmingham, on BBC Radio 3 in July 2001.
Downes’ Sonatina, whilst rich in difficult technical passages, is immensely rewarding to play and thoroughly repays time spent in addressing its specific challenges. The first movement builds to a controlled climax via extensive use of imitation; the opening is Bach-like in its textural clarity and contrapuntal transparency. The lyrical slow movement weaves its wistful spell in almost hypnotic fashion over the simplest of bass accompaniments. The toccata-like Finale is glittering, hotheaded and impatient, betraying the aggression of Downes’ youth and revealing the acidic side of his wit.
DUNCAN HONEYBOURNE
PIANO SONATA No.1 Opus 12 (1976)
Duration 15'
3 movements
This work was requested by Renna Kellaway and completed at Blakedown, Worcestershire, in December 1976. It was first performed by Malcolm Wilson at the Birmingham School of Music in 1978. The Sonata has received numerous performances worldwide, and has attracted widespread praise for its beauty and originality. “Truly beautiful”, wrote the great English pianist John Ogdon of the work, when he played it in the 1980s. Duncan Honeybourne first performed the Sonata at the Three Choirs Festival at Hereford in August 2000.
The opening is suffused with an entrancing warmth which explores harmonic tension and resolution through its evolving inner contours. There is a sense that a magical dawn is breaking, and this material is cited again at the close of the first and third movements, thus imparting a binding cohesion to the whole Sonata. Downes then introduces, at a faster tempo, a spiky motif which is rapidly spun into a vivacious, bubbling alternation of scale passages with more emphatic chordal declarations infused with rhythmic zest. A modal flavour permeates, and endures in the mournful slow movement, intense and eloquent and jewelled with a heartfelt, bittersweet singing line. The finale is a buoyant toccata which tosses staccato chords between left and right hands. The cascading turbulence eventually melts into the glowing peace and tranquil calm of the reprised opening, which is this time heard as a sunset rather than a sunrise.
DUNCAN HONEYBOURNE
PIANO SONATA No.2 Opus 82 (2002)
Duration 20'
3 movements
Downes’ Piano Sonata no.2 was composed for Duncan Honeybourne and completed in November 2002.
The expansive opening leads to a busier, haunted episode, interrupted by a section of melting beauty and haunting enchantment. The last movement also frames a heart of lyrical tranquility between sections of bustling vigour, and ends in a vein of serene quietude. Rhythmic complexity draws on a wide spread of influences, with echoes of the various ethnic musics that had attracted Downes’ eager attention and study by this stage of his career, yet is entirely at the service of a broader message that is organic, profound, humble and often very beautiful, with strong roots in English pastoralism. Andrew Downes has long loved the writing of Thomas Hardy, reflecting as it does the distinctive personality of Hardy’s deeply rural home county, Dorset. He wanted to give the Sonata a Dorset flavour on account of Honeybourne’s own Dorset birth, and the second movement is especially rich in quotations from Downes’ Hardy settings. The dark undercurrents which resonate throughout Hardy’s psyche emerge most tangibly and tellingly in the slow movement. In writing this, Downes had in mind the open, wild Dorset countryside and visualized the passage of a wagon across open downland at night. A moment of dark repose heralds a quote from Downes’ setting of a Hardy poem laden with Dorset landscape imagery brought to the service of a subtler message. As Hardy’s turns of phrase are so frequently not quite as they seem, so this quasi-pastoral literary brushstroke serves to evoke a chilling human reference. Typical and masterly Hardy. Here he is relating the brooding outline of a Dorset location to the spectre of a violent and threatening husband:
“Blackon frowns east on Maiden
And westward to the sea
With scorn, as his frown on me.”
DUNCAN HONEYBOURNE
Duncan Honeybourne premiered this haunting work at the Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin, on March 9th 2003 and included the work in recital tours throughout Britain during 2003 and 2004, including a tour of the Scottish Highlands and Orkney in August 2003.
7 PRELUDES FOR PIANO Opus 89 (2006)
Duration 20'
This set of pieces was specially composed for Duncan Honeybourne, who gave the first performance on the 2nd March 2006 in the Chapel of the Ascension at the University of Chichester, West Sussex. The vignettes are sharply etched and succinctly crafted, and bear evocative titles which draw the listener into a highly descriptive imagined world. My favourites, nos.3 and 6, Winter Lanes and Daybreak in the Fields capture a magically rapt stillness and demonstrate a characteristic blend of modal harmony, use of thirds, fifths and sixths and simple chords moving slowly and evocatively uncluttered by contrapuntal interplay. In the virtuosic final Prelude, Plainchant comes to mind occasionally, only to be swept aside by determinedly driving rhythms and obsessive energy. Summer Calypso, the fifth Prelude, brings a touch of something more exotic than the idyllic pastoralism which is often suggested by some of the more bucolic numbers!
DUNCAN HONEYBOURNE
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7 POSTLUDES FOR PIANO Opus 107 (2015)
Duration 21 minutes
'More reflective in inspiration and character – and still more economical in design - than the earlier Seven Preludes, these delicious miniatures are supremely evocative and imaginative. Every note counts, and there are some masterly touches, not least the use of the whole range of the piano to powerful effect, especially in the third and seventh postludes.
Composed in 2015 and dedicated to Duncan Honeybourne, these pieces were premiered on the 30th October 2016 at St Lawrence Chapel, Ashburton, Devon.
DUNCAN HONEYBOURNE
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Violin and Piano
ANDREW DOWNES: SONATA No.1 FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO Opus 52 (1994)
3 Movements
Duration 25 minutes
This Sonata was specially composed for a concert dedicated to the memory of Ernest Element, given on 3rd May 1994 in the Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham, by the Kingsdown Duo - Roger Huckle, violin, and John Bishop, piano. Ernest Element had a long and distinguished career as a top orchestral violinist, chamber music player, and leading violin teacher, principally at the Binningham School of Music.
"The piece is in no way programmatic, but its generally wann and optimistic nature is meant, in some way, to reflect the caring, generosity and great friendship offered to all with whom he came into contact by the man to whom the work is dedicated, Ernest Element.
"The Sonata is in three movements, the first predominantly moderate in pace but with some fast rhythmic and multi-tempo passages. The second movement is mainly slow and rather sad, but with a much happier, breezier section in the middle. The finale is of a strong, rhythmically complex and hopefully exciting nature, but with a reflective ending.
"The overall style of the piece attempts to bring together many of the idioms from around the world with which I have been concerned in recent years. There is a melting together of English and Celtic modal styles with elements of Indian Ragas, particularly the Malkosh and Kafi, and there is also influence from African and Indian rhythms in the fast, multi-time rhythmic passages.
"I hope you enjoy the piece. My heartfelt thanks to the performers for asking me to write it."
ANDREW DOWNES
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ANDREW DOWNES: SONATA No.2 FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO Opus117 (2021)
3 Movements
Duration 25 minutes
The first movement of Violin Sonata No.2, marked 'groovy', begins with a rythmic dance-like accompaniment, over which, at bar 8, the violin enters with excited scale passages peaking in leaps of joy. The violin then joins in with the piano's theme to develop the material, culminating in descending semi quaver arpeggios in both instruments alongside a soaring melody. The second subject is a deeply felt emotional tune which reaches high in the violin and descends to give way to the dance theme of the opening and further exuberant semiquaver passages in both instruments. The violin returns to heartfelt music, accompanied by chords in the piano. Marked 'with great tenderness', the music becomes an unaccompanied violin solo incorporating double stopping. The entrance of the piano further enhances the warmth and emotion with crotchet chords, then flowing quavers and finally punctuating rising chords. The opening dance returns to end the movement with a jubilant coda.
Movement 2, Andante, echoes the 'groovy' feel of the opening of the first movement with short jazz-like chords in the piano, becoming more full and flowing, partnering a soulful lament from the violin, which is repeated and embellished, rising to the top of the instrument and responding with yearning lower notes. The opening motif returns and becomes more passionate, to usher in a developed, Indian raga inspired version of the opening, paving the way for sublime chords. A development and recapitulation follow, increasing in intensity. The lone violin ends the movement.
The final movement again starts with a rhythmic piano motif, this time incorporating the feel of a Scottish snap, but again with an Indian flavour. The violin tune takes on the Scottish/Indian inspiration, with flowing phrases interspersed with percussive bows. The exhilaration builds up. The piano leads into a reflective 2nd subject with a passionate violin theme leading into a Tudor inspired passage of great poignancy, before the development of all the themes which have gone before, climaxing in frenzied violin semiquavers over punctuating piano chords. The Tudor inspired music closes the movement.
CYNTHIA DOWNES
Piccolo and Piano
ANDREW DOWNES: SONATA FOR PICCOLO AND PIANO Opus 74 (1999)
3 Movements
Duration 20 minutes
A 4 bar phrase on the high unaccompanied piccolo, playing in triplets, predominantly in 5/4 time, opens the first movement, which is marked "gently and smoothly". The piano takes over the triplets, while the piccolo plays semiquavers lower in its range. The piano follows suit with the semi quavers, while the piccolo opens out into a soaring expansive tune with flourishes, and a molto espresso e tenderoso melody over flowing triplets against duplets in the piano. After a developed repeat of the opening, the piccolo continues with its flowing melody over a rhythmic accompaniment, which further becomes expressive and tender. The themes are repeated and developed. The coda is a jubilant, euphoric tune over passionate arpeggios in the piano.
The second movement, marked andante spirituale is a folk-like lament over a sympathetic accompaniment which moves through single notes, chords, semiquaver passages, triplet arpeggios, broken chords, or no ornament. The piccolo only embellishes the tune with semiquaver arpeggios towards the end, before 3 simple phrases and 3 long high notes which end the movement.
The last movement opens Allegro vivace, in 6/8 time, with a jubilant, robust, dance-like tune introduced on the solo piccolo. The piano joins in with an echoing accompaniment and leads into an equally joyous second subject, where the piccolo skips along with flourishes, which the piano imitates in its own section. After a short slow section, the piccolo returns to its vivace and then a meditative passage in 4/2 time over a mainly flowing accompaniment. A final return to the dance is brought to a close by the lone piccolo in reflective mood.
CYNTHIA DOWNES
Flute and Piano
ANDREW DOWNES: SONATA FOR FLUTE AND PIANO Opus 67 (1998)
3 Movements
Duration 25 minutes
The first movement of this Sonata, Andante espressivo, starts on unaccompanied flute, with a simple, folk-like tune with a Native American flavour. The piano enters with a sympathetic chordal accompaniment. Flowing semiquavers in the piano then accompany a soaring melody in the flute, which leads into a rhythmic and groovy dance-like section, eventually giving way to a high passage on flute over piano trills. The whole of the opening is then repeated. All the opening ideas return in an embellished development and recapitulation. The movement ends with a gentle coda which echoes the simplicity of the beginning.
The second movement, Allegro vivace, begins in the piano, with a rumbustious accompaniment in 6/8 time. The flute is then carried along over the top and then skips along as the piano becomes a little less boisterous. The flute and piano then play the opening theme in canon and the music gradually becomes more energetic to usher in a repeat of the opening. The next section is based on flowing quavers in both instruments. The piano then keeps up the momentum while the flute plays a "cowboy"-like tune. A lengthy reflective passage, Adagio molto e espressivo in both instruments follows, before the energetic mood of the opening gradually takes over, to finally lead into a majestic ending with rising demisemiquavers and then grandiose chords accompanying the very high flute.
The beginning of the 3rd movement, marked Andante semplice, begins with a beautiful soulful melody, reminiscent of the opening mood of the first movement, but this final movement is predominantly rhythmical, jazzy, dance-like and full of fun. The melody of the opening comes back briefly, but the energetic dance takes over and becomes frenetic. The Andante returns in a heartfelt passage, before the return of the vitality, which leads into a final exuberant coda.
CYNTHIA DOWNES
Clarinet and Piano
SONATA FOR CLARINET AND PIANO Opus 100 (2009)
This Sonata was specially composed for Angus Meryon, clarinet, and Duncan Honeybourne, piano, who gave the first performance in the United Reformed Church, Salisbury UK, as part of the Salisbury Chamber Music Club series, on 2nd January 2010.
Andrew Downes first heard Angus Meryon's playing in July 2008, in a concert by the Blackmore Ensemble, in which both Angus and Duncan played. Andrew had gone to the concert to hear Duncan perform his solo piano work In Memoriam Herbert Howells, and was inspired by the fine playing of both of these young artists to compose a Sonata for Clarinet and Piano and dedicate it to them.
The Sonata begins with a profound, meditative theme on solo clarinet, joined later by a chordal piano accompaniment. A lyrical 2nd subject follows, where the piano imitates the clarinet. A chordal bridge passage leads to a lively, flowing third subject and more imitation. After a return to a chordal version of theme 1, and a development of the lyrical music, a new theme is taken up by the clarinet while the piano provides an ostinato accompaniment. This melody and accompaniment are then exchanged between the two instruments by turns as the music develops. Theme 1 is superimposed, and the music moves gradually back to the serious mood of the beginning. The movement ends with a brighter version of theme 1, and a warm accompaniment on the piano.
The second movement is a scherzo, which is characterised by a staccato motif, and by a contrasting lyrical melody with flowing accompaniment and imitation. After a slow middle section, which echoes the opening theme of the first movement, the energetic staccato subject returns to be extensively developed.
The third movement is meditative, plaintive and cantabile, in both clarinet and piano, building twice to short, passionate climaxes.
The final movement is bubbly and vibrant, with slower passages intervening to hark back to the more reflective moments of the whole work. The energetic mood dominates, however, and leads ultimately to a climactic ending, where an intricate and playful dialogue between the two instruments brings the work to an exciting conclusion, with bursts of energy interrupted by triumphant chords.
CYNTHIA DOWNES
Bassoon and Piano
SONATA FOR BASSOON AND PIANO Opus 121 (2022)
3 movements
Duration 20 minutes
This Sonata is Andrew Downes' last work. Its third movement remained unfinished at his death. To speak of a late style or of the nostalgia which Andrew's final creation evokes is to say more about the ear of the listener than the music perhaps, but I hear in it great nostalgia. The first movement, Andante, is inflected by the modality of Tudor music. The bassoon and piano begin, in vertical moving triads, with a noble chorale. The piano leads into an offbeat rhythmical allegro, developing earlier themes, still based on vertical harmonies, ultimately moving towards a more aggressive and intense climax. The opening chorale returns, followed by a Renaissance-style dance section, which becomes infused with jazz elements, all still using vertical harmonies. A new section in 6/16 ensues, where the bassoon soars in a passionate melody over semiquavers in the piano. The chorale returns for a final time to lead into a coda in 4/2 time where the sentiment becomes contemplative and mysterious.
The second movement is a nest of intertextuality, where Andrew draws his inspiration from his own music, as though knitting together sonic memories. The opening is a fugal development of a tune from his opera Far from the Madding Crowd (which introduces the entrance of the farm worker Joseph Poorgrass). The music is humorous and bucolic, evoking a folk-like dance. The second subject is a heartfelt hymn, reminiscent of a moment of the Resurrection in Andrew's A St Luke Passion. The fugal returns and is further developed, before settling in a reflective, doleful close.
The third movement brings to mind a theme from Andrew's Sonata for 8 Horns. Over a groovy piano accompaniment, the bassoon plays a joyful tune, embellished by semiquaver passages. In a contrasting second subject, the accompaniment becomes chordal, and the movement progresses into religioso chorale-like music. Finally, the opening music returns, with alternations of contemplative and dance-like feeling, before fizzing out of energy and slowing down. At this point, Andrew passed away; our daughter Paula added a short, but intensely poignant coda, quoting principally from the ending of Andrew's Song of the Prairies, which laments the loss of ancient peoples of rural America.
CYNTHIA DOWNES
Solo Trumpet
MEDITATIONS FOR SOLO TRUMPET Opus 38 (1986)
3 Movements
Duration 3 minutes
This work in 3 short movements for solo trumpet was commissioned from Andrew Downes by Richard Adams, a fine British trumpeter who founded and lead the Cambrian Brass Quintet.
He first performed the work in a recital which he gave on June 17th 1986 at St Paul's Church Hockley, Birmingham. This church, built for the Jewellery Quarter of Birmingham in 1779, enjoys fine acoustics, and is used by the BBC for its broadcasts.
The performance on the recording below is the one Richard Adams gave at St. Paul's. Adams has performed this work as part of his repertoire in numerous solo recitals.
The Meditations, which also formed part of the prize-winning programme by Martin Orgill at the Birmingham Conservatoire Doris Newton Competition, is often taken up by young players who are in search of a work which is challenging both technically and musically.
The first movement, which is marked Andante, is a plaintive solitary but song-like tune. The player has to aim for a very smooth singing tone. The second movement, Allegro ma non troppo, develops the first movement. It is characterised by triplet phrases which flow in a scherzo-like manner. The last movement is marked Adagio: desolate. It has similar note progressions to the other movements but is mournful and reflective. It forms a short but very poignant ending to the work.
CYNTHIA DOWNES
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THE LAST TRUMPET Opus 46 (1990)
Duration 3 minutes
The Last Trumpet begins with a mystical 2 note phrase rising a minor 3rd from G to Bb, which develops simply into a 3-note phrase, adding the next note of the pentatonic scale on which this piece is based. The next phrase leaps a minor 7th, leading into a rousing development, and culminating in descending arpeggios, which come to a reflective halt. The opening 2 note phrase returns to usher in a recapitulation and extension of the opening ideas, which become more emotional and mysterious.
SONATA FOR TRUMPET AND PIANO Opus 120 (2022)
3 movements
Duration 20 minutes
This Sonata begins with a spirited melody on the trumpet. The piano takes over while the trumpet adds interjections and flourishes. Over a flowing semiquaver accompaniment, the trumpet then evokes hunting calls and fanfares with its quasi-dotted rhythms, triplets and rising 4ths. The slower 2nd subject, marked 'gentle', is a pensive tune over a lilting accompaniment. The piano introduces a return to the opening subject and a development, with both flowing and rhythmical semiquavers and demisemiquavers in both instruments, playing together or fugally. The return of meditative music is in the form of beautiful, chorale-like, vertical chords, followed by shimmering semiquavers in the piano, and the trumpet singing over the top, briefly quoting from Andrew's Songs from Spoon River, song 4. After a developed recapitulation, a coda, featuring flourishing demisemiquavers, brings the movement to a close.
A soulful adagio, enhanced by consoling piano chords moving in tandem, opens the second movement. As the music becomes more intense, the trumpet phrases draw inspiration from Andrew's Song of the Prairies and his opera, Far from the Madding Crowd, over semiquavers in the piano, which carry the momentum forward. The opening theme returns on muted trumpet with vertical chords; and a sublime passage, further based on Andrew's Song of the Prairies, follows. After a short bridge passage, the opening music returns to provide a heartfelt chorale ending.
The 3rd movement starts as a vigorous 'hunting gallop', which breaks out into energetic semiquavers. Four strident piano chords herald excited lofty phrases, with both instruments moving together. The whole of the opening is recalled and culminates in a soaring second subject, where the trumpet plays 4 dotted quavers per bar against a flowing 6/8 quaver piano accompaniment, comprising ever wider and more angular intervals, until it finally falls in a more stepwise motion. The music continues in this multi-time vein, but gives a sense of suspending time by halving the speed in the piano, which now plays crotchets in 3/4 instead of quavers in 6/8, accompanying a more alto-ranged trumpet melody in dotted crotchets. This passage lands on some meditative, scrunchy chords before an energetic recapitulation with further development. A short lone passage on the trumpet leads to a coda based on the theme from the end of the second subject, which aptly calms the mood to end the movement.
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