Simaku and Stringer in Rome

Two of UYMP's composers will be performed in Rome by pianist Noriko Kawai

The Flight of the Eagle

Why The Flight of the Eagle? The immediate answer would be “not the flight of the bumblebee”; the perpetual-mobile type of texture was not what I was after. The idea for this work sprang from an ancient Albanian proverb: “The Eagle flies in the Sky, but makes its nest on Earth”. The self-evident metaphoric qualities of the expression, which, in such a concentrated form encompasses a space apparently without limits (that between the Earth and the Sky), made it for me a crying-out-subject for an imaginary musical flight. But it is not until the end of the piece that the flight really takes off; amidst obstacles of varying degrees, the music alternates between stillness, flying and floating. As to the choice of the instrument, it was obvious to me that this piece could only be for piano, and here, virtuosity is very much part of the musical content. The world première was given by Ian Pace on 18th June 2002 in the SirJack Lyons Concert Hall, York. © T.S.

NORIKO KAWAI (pianoforte) gives works by Morricone, I.Fiorini, G.Kurtág, J.Weir, J.Dillon, T.Simaku, J.Stringer. and H.Birtwistle at 20.30, the Accademia di Ungheria, Via Giulia 1, Roma