Programme notes:

icey   :   high sea   :   high C   :   in C   :   I see

I wanted to see if I could write a piece using only the seven natural pitches, in other words, in C, the white notes of the piano. I wanted to see if I could compose a piece with this constraint that captivated and moved me.

The piece explores the seven natural pitches and the relationship between the piano and the string quartet, through repetition and the layering of sustained notes, creating different harmonies and juxtapositions.

The piano begins to double certain of the quartet’s notes, gradually becoming more involved in the repeating, evolving melody until it takes it over, leaving the quartet to drift into a final sustained harmony, rising and falling like waves against the delicate crash of a dissonant piano chord.

I tip my hat to the work of American composer Morton Feldman, to Terry Riley’s In C, which is a very different piece to mine, and to any piece in the simple key of C major.