This piece, a flight of fancy for flute and piano, comprises three sections, each lasting about a minute or so.
The first section kicks off in an energetic and cheerful way with the bright, upper registers of both instruments at play. Also evident in the opening section are ideas such as angular melodic lines played in unison, a little harp-like piano accompaniment texture and a contrasting theme fashioned atop a jazzy, dance-inspired bassline.
The middle section of the work is perhaps the more unearthly music of the work. Little updrafts and whirlwinds of tinkling, glockenspiel-like piano figurations add a haunting quality to a chromatically inflected flute melody, evoking, for me, images of night and a kind of magic.
The final section of the piece – which brings us back to earth with its recapitulation of earlier material – is characterised by the soun
I wrote this in 1995 (at a time when my Mum was sick) and I'm delighted that so many people have enjoyed playing it since, hopefully to their Mums too. I've heard many renditions and have enjoyed the diversity of interpretations people have brought to it. It is best to practise it slowly with the metronome, learning the tricky bits separately at first. Don't make too much of the semi-quavers as they are ornaments to the main melody but do try to be accurate with them and don't swallow them. Latch on to the accents as they really bring out the Latin-Jazz feel of the piece. The dynamics help create more emotional ebb and flow in the music.
