Programme  Note  

 

The   classical   guitar   is   an   instrument   with   a   wide-­‐ranging   yet   subtle   sonic   palette,  much   more   suited   to   questioning   than   assertion;   these   qualities   appealed   to   me  greatly.  René  Char’s  collection  of  aphorisms  –  he  actually  preferred  the  term  ‘short  texts’  –   from  which   the  present  work  gets   its   title,   consists  of  extremely  enigmatic  fragments  of  prose  poetry  that  share  a  common  concern  with  experiences  of  beauty  and  existential  intensity;  these  qualities  also  appealed  to  me.  Thus  the  idea  was  born  to  write  a  set  of  musical  miniatures,  or  perhaps  fragments  would  be  a  better  term,  inspired   by   some   of   these   short   texts,   which   are   referred   to   specifically   by   the  Roman   numeral   titles   of   the   pieces   presented   here.   The   brevity   of   these   musical  structures   allowed   me   to   explore   a   variety   of   methods   of   musical   construction,  inspired  by  the  texts  themselves  and  my  broader  interaction  with  music,  without  the  pressures   of   sustaining   a   longer   form.   At   the   same   time,   I   was   keen   to   create   a  degree  of  macro-­‐structural  coherence  –  in  order  to  stop  the  piece  being  reduced  to  a  series   of   unrelated   snippets   –   through   developing   relationships   between   various  series  of  pieces,   inspired  by  common  themes  found   in  the  texts,  and  a  concern  for  the  overall  dramatic  pacing  and  unfolding  of  the  work.