Five Preludes

Masquing the Medusa is a tribute to my friend and colleague John Casken, and was composed for a concert celebrating his work at Manchester University in January 2008. This short prelude pays homage to him by taking ingredients from two of his compositions and putting them together in my own way. The notes of the melody are taken from the oboe part of Masque and the accompaniment figure stems from a prominent figure in the piano part of Blue Medusa. The remaining preludes were composed during the spring of 2009, born from a feeling that Masquing the Medusa needs to be part of something bigger. For me there’s something very tantalizing about miniatures, each offering a glimpse of a different world. I think of these as preludes in the Debussian sense; he deliberately placed the titles of each his preludes at the end of the music, so that people would be free to revel in their own associations and imagery, and not be too influenced by his titles. My titles were thought up after composition of the preludes, so I would encourage performers and listeners to do the same here. This set of preludes was selected as a Winner of the International Music Prizes for Excellence in Composition Competition, 2009.