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Programme Note

Meditation - Dramatic Recitative - Capriccio

With this Triptych written in 1970 I returned to my first love, the piano. My very first published works were a jejeune Intermezzo, a Suite and a set of Valses Fantastiques written when I was at Cambridge, and now luckily unattainable. In the twenties while in California, I wrote twelve short and varied pieces for the piano; a Concert for two pianos followed in 1924, a full length Piano Concerto in 1939 and a Sonata in 1952.

The three pieces forming the Triptych are a Meditation, a Dramatic Recitative and a Capriccio. The Meditation is naturally reflective, but not unduly introspective; the drama in the Recitative rests on the contrast between rhetorical statements and bravura passages; the Capriccio is carried on a vivacious rhythmic pulse and ends with brilliance.

It is dedicated to Louis Kentner "with admiration and gratitude" - the admiration is for his playing, and the gratitude for the help he gave during the recording of my piano sonata by Marguerite Wolff.

© Sir Arthur Bliss