Description

Three Pieces, for piccolo and oboe

1. Trochaic Tieke

2. Portrait Dances

3. Three Variations

The starting point for Three Pieces was the call of a Saddleback (or Tieke), a bird native of New Zealand (overheard from my couch, as it appeared in an Attenborough documentary) – which is heard at the very beginning of the work, arranged for high oboe and piccolo. What follows are strands in a trochaic pulse drawn, more or less recognizably, from the materials of this initial cackle. The second piece, as the title suggests, is a self-portrait; it evokes devices that I (I’d like to say subconsciously) regurgitated from some

ten years before. All three pieces are bound together by a miniature version of the upcoming piece played at the end of the previous – a practice used, amongst others, by Sibelius in his 6th Symphony. Three Pieces is dedicated to Penny and Nicky, to whom it was also written.

© Lauri Supponen (2012)

Instrumentation

pic, ob

Category

Chamber Works

Premiere

The work was premiered by Penelope Smith, oboe and Nicola Crowe, piccolo, on March 20th 2012 at the Royal College of Music in London.

Movements

1. Trochaic Tieke, 2. Portrait Dances, 3. Three Variations

Commisioned by / dedications

dedicated to Penny Smith and Nicky Crowe.

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