PROGRAMME NOTES

Five Forgeries for Piano Duet

(1963)

Poulenc – Hindemith – Stravinsky – Delius – Bartok

The Five Forgeries were written in 1963 and published the following year. They are simply party-pieces taking off aspects of the styles of the composers indicated. Poulenc is dedicated to Sir Lennox Berkeley, who was a close friend of the French composer; Hindemith to my tutor at Cambridge, Philip Radcliffe, who took Hindemith rather seriously; Stravinsky to the painter and later business consultant Harold Lewis, who shared my admiration for the composer; Delius to my father Frank Dickinson, the contact lens pioneer, who loved his music; Bartok to Dinos Constantinides, the Greek-American violinist and later composer who was my chamber music partner in New York.

The first broadcast was by Anne Shasby and Richard McMahon on BBC Radio 3 in December 1978.