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About
Subtle Dances is a set of three short moods for piano trio. In writing, I have tried to approach the works as intuitively as possible. For me this creates the greatest connection between me as a composer, the performers, and the audience listening. Each work features one instrument more prominently – firstly cello, then piano, then violin. The music explores my continued fascination with the space created within the music, in which a listener can engage. Both hypnotic and meditative, the pieces present themselves as a contrasting set of interior landscapes. They are: passing thoughts, memories, unsolvable problems, and explorations of headspace.
Firstly – it begins with a dance; a rhythmical and passionate interlocking of playful lines, but not without an element of danger or risk.
Secondly – an elegy, the body in its slowest state.
Thirdly – a struggle, an unanswered question, a cycle – and ultimately, a transition; a bursting through, into a new light.
Commissioned note
Co-commission CMNZ/NZTrio
Contents note
Three movements:
i. Subtle dances
ii. Be slow and lie low
iii. Nerve lines
Performance history
01 May 2013: NZ Trio | Old World : New World
27 Sep 2013: NZTrio | Warsaw Autumn Festival Fringe Event
28 Sep 2013: NZTrio | Krakow
17 May 2014: NZTrio | new New Zealand music - Beijing Modern Festival
27 May 2014: NZTrio | O Cambodia - Guangxi Festival of South East Asian Music
16 Aug 2014: NZTrio | Greytown
17 Aug 2014: NZTrio | Mulled Wine Concerts in Paekakariki
30 Aug 2014: NZTrio | Aarhus Festival
31 Aug 2014: NZTrio in Copehagen
23 Oct 2014: NZTrio with Mike Nock Trio | Vicissitudes at Nelson Arts Festival
08 Nov 2014: NZTrio | Artᶾ at Whangarei Arts Museum
14 Mar 2015: White Night | NZTrio
16 Aug 2015: NZTrio at the Darwin Festival | Vicissitudes
23 Aug 2015: NZTrio | East From Here
29 Sep 2018: NZTrio | Exotica
Featuring: Claire Cowan | Alex Taylor
05 Mar 2021: POSTPONED: Auckland Arts Festival | Subtle Dances
Featuring: Rhian Sheehan | Ryan Youens
06 Mar 2021: POSTPONED: Auckland Arts Festival | Subtle Dances
Featuring: Rhian Sheehan | Ryan Youens
06 Mar 2021: POSTPONED: Auckland Arts Festival | Subtle Dances
Featuring: Rhian Sheehan | Ryan Youens
Performed by NZ Trio