HELLAWELL
Improvise! Improvise!
for Guitar solo
ISSUU Version
For perusal only
Improvise! Improvise! for Guitar solo ISSUU Version For perusal only
PIERS HELLAWELL
LEIP ZI G · L ONDO N · NE W YOR K
ISSUU Version For perusal only
This triptych for solo guitar was written in September 1985. It presents a succession of three episodes in different moods: the confidence of the opening Toccata gives way, through a more thoughtful recitative with rumbling ostinato accompaniment, to the private stillness of the closing aria. The work is thus a journey from the extrovert, employing on its way the rich field of sounds offered by the guitar.
This work was written as the composer approached his own journey towards a more personal musical expression; the title was thus an exhortation to explore a new language of music, setting aside assumptions about musical complexity in the hope of a more direct and simple expression.
PERFORMANCE NOTES
Harmonics are notated at sounding pitch as open flageolets.
Sounding of open strings, left to resonate when l.h. is smartly removed from previous chord, is, denoted by solid flageolets.
Pitches for left hand alone (i.e. not struck) are notated as small notes with [l.h. - - - -] above them.
Sul ponticello passages (e.g. top of page 2) should be molto ponticello, i.e. played very close to the bridge.
Bartok pizzicato sforzandi, which are denoted by », should be con forza so as to rebound audibly on the fingerboard.
Duration: c. 6 minutes
ISSUU Version For perusal only
For perusal only
For perusal only
For perusal only
For perusal only
ISSUU Version
For perusal only
ISSUU Version
For perusal only
ISSUU Version For perusal only
Piers Hellawell
Piers Hellawell (b. 1956) has worked with leading artists such as the London Symphony Orchestra, Schubert Ensemble, Dame Evelyn Glennie and the Hilliard Ensemble, who toured his Hilliard Songbook pieces worldwide. Orchestral works include Cors de chasse (for Håkan Hardenberger, Jonas Bylund and the Philharmonia Orchestra) and the BBC commission Dogs and Wolves (2006), while Syzygy was premiered in 2013 by the Stockholm Chamber Brass/Swedish Chamber Orchestra. 2016 saw Hellawell’s Wild Flow commissioned for the BBC Proms, and a UK tour of Up by the Roots – a collaboration with poet Sinéad Morrissey – as well as a composer feature at Detroit’s Great Lakes Festival. Hellawell has been Professor of Composition at Queen’s University of Belfast since 2002, and has spoken widely on issues of music and cultural ownership as Gresham Professor of Music in London, 2000–2003.
Piers Hellawell (*1956) hat mit führenden Interpreten wie dem London Symphony Orchestra, dem Schubert Ensemble und Evelyn Glennie zusammengearbeitet. Das Hilliard Ensemble brachte sein Hilliard Songbook weltweit zur Aufführung. Für Orchester enstanden u. a. Cors de chasse (für Håkan Hardenberger, Jonas Bylund und das Philharmonia Orchestra), das BBC-Auftragswerk Dogs and Wolves (2006) sowie das 2013 vom Stockholm Chamber Brass/Swedish Chamber Orchestra uraufgeführte Syzygy. 2016 folgten Wild Flow für die BBC Proms, Up by the Roots – ein Gemeinschaftswerk mit der Dichterin Sinéad Morrissey, das in ganz Großbritannien auf Tournee ging – sowie ein Komponistenporträt beim Great Lakes Festival in Detroit. Seit 2002 ist Hellawell Professor an der Queen’s University in Belfast. Als Inhaber der Londoner Gresham-Professur für Musik setzte er sich 2000–2003 mit Fragen des kulturellen Eigentums in der Musik auseinander.