w445
| Title | Passages |
| Contributors |
Derek Ball (composer) |
| Composition date | 1982 |
| Duration (mins) | 20 |
| Category | chamber duet |
| Instrumentation | Fl Va |
| Commissioned by | |
| Key signature | |
| First line | |
| First performed | |
| Notes | in memory of A J Potter |
| Programme Note | I last bumped into Dr Archie Potter (my former teacher of composition at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin) while I was on honeymoon. A few years later I heard of his unexpected death at the early age of 62. A couple of years after that event I produced two mournful responses, this piece and a piano duet, which marked my tentative return to composing after several years of being distracted by an alternative career. Dr Potter pointed me in the right direction in my early teens, and even in his death he seemed to be doing his best to tell me what was good for me. He knew best! Although quite different in style, the piece was probably influenced by the model of Stravinsky's Symphonies of Wind Instruments in memory of Debussy, described by its composer as "an austere ritual". The episodic structure of Passages uses a few themes which keep returning in varied form, as if trying to come to terms with something difficult and painful. If I were writing the piece now I might have been more inclined to emphasise the ebullience which was so characteristic of Archie Potter. In the event, it was grief that had the upper hand. I imagine my former mentor might have advised me that a bit more humour and variety would have been a kindness to the poor audience! But I think he would have understood, too. |
This work is associated with the following collection items:
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