PROGRAMME NOTES

Bach In Blue

(2004) Piano solo; arranged for violin, clarinet and piano (2010); arranged for clarinet, violin, piano and strings (2012)

As a piano solo, this piece was one of a number of tributes to Michael Berkeley in his tenth and final season as Director of the Cheltenham Festival. Llyr Williams gave the premiere at the Pittville Pump Room on 10 July 2004, later broadcast on BBC Radio 3. There are now recordings of it as a piano solo (the composer) and also for violin, clarinet and piano (the Verdehr Trio), and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Several composers, notably Gounod and later Arvo Part, became involved with this first prelude in Bach’s 48. I had often felt that there must be a blues lurking somewhere beneath Bach’s chords and I found it here. PD

Published by Goodmusic 2015