Work
Nocturne
for cello and piano
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About
Nocturne was commissioned by Radio NZ for inclusion in a concert to mark Douglas Lilburn's 80th birthday. I was inspired by a recent visit to New Zealand of Steven Isserlis whose playing of Taverner's The Protecting Veil could not but impress, as the cello ascended to unimaginable heights of exquisite sweetness.
My nocturne is a journey into sleep. The piano sets up an asymmetric pulse, a rocking motion that is at once comforting but is also tinged with anxiety. The cello shares this character until a moment when both instruments open out into simple, widely spaced chords. The sound is imperceptively amplified and reverberated as the instruments "lose consciousness", and are released into sleep.
Commissioned note
Commissioned by Concert FM for a special concert celebrating Douglas Lilburn's 80th birthday on November 2nd, 1995
Performance history
02 Nov 1995: Performed by Allan Chisholm (cello), Margaret Nielsen (piano); Ilott Concert Chamber, Wellington
10 Sep 2000: Performed by Katherine Hebley (cello) and Dan Poynton (piano)
13 Nov 2015: Performed by Inbal Megiddo (cello) and Jian Liu (piano) at the Remembering Lilburn concert, Adam Concert Room, Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music, Wellington.
Performed by Ashley Brown (cello) and Sarah Watkins (piano) from NZTrio.