John McCabe

John McCabe's Nocturnal For Piano Quintet was composed in 1966 commissioned by the Park Lane Group London and first performed by the Lancaster University Ensemble. Duration: Approximately 13 minutes. Composers Note:  The title of this work is a reference to John Donne's poem A Nocturnal upon St Lucie's Day the mood of which is reflected in the quintet. It falls into several movements played without a break: Introduction (Andante) setting forth the main thematic ideas of the music; Nocturne 1 (Allegro vivo) an agitated virtuoso scherzo-like section; a tripartite central part of the work consisting of two Cadenzasframing a brief Interlude the first Cadenza being largely for strings the second mainly for piano and the Interlude harking back to the feeling of the Introduction; Nocturne 2 (Andante molto) a slow piece gradually building to a unison theme on strings accompanied by a tolling piano background. This dies down to lead to an Epilogue ending with a final reference to the work's opening bars. 

These Carol-Preludes were written in 2008 but the idea was in the composer's mind for many years before this. Essentially they revive the old style of the Chorale- Prelude but using carol tunes instead of hymns or chorales. They are derived from German French and English melodies some of the German tunes were found in my mother’s old school songbook from her schooldays in Germany after the First World War.

Arranged for solo piano suitable for advanced pianists. First performed 1994 at the Harrogate International Festival. Duration 20 minutes.

The gap between starting to learn an instrument and playing ‘real’ music is a very great deterrent to many players. Consequently Afternoons And Afterwards tries to tackle this problem for the Piano with songs that are playable even by musicians with limited technical ability. The composer John McCabe has written 7 cheerful songs representing fun free-time activities.Titles include: Swans at Stratford On the beach Champagne Waltz Sports car A game of darts Forlane and The Artful Dodger. These can be performed separately in pairs or alltogether as a suite. Total duration is 10 minutes 45 seconds.

Commissioned for the 26th International Organ Festival at St Albans 2011 and funded by the RVW Trust.Duration: 7.45 Performance notes Registration: the performer is free to determine the entire registration scheme except at bar 60 where a solo reed is mandatory.Pitch: manual passages at bars 25 32 38 are written for a solo 4' stop (s). The Pedal is at 16' (ad lib 32') unless otherwise indicated (bars 31 37 where a solo 8' is required).III - Sw.II - Gt.I - Pos/Ch Composer's note Esperanza is named after Camp Esperanza (Camp Hope) the location of the mission to rescue the thirty-three miners trappedunderground for seventy days in 2010 at the San Jose Mine in Chile a rescue that was televised live and was one of the most moving and inspiring things I have ever seen. By the most extraordinary coincidence I had already done a good deal of sketching for this Organ piece before this all happened and had determined on a 'darkness-to-light' kind of piece - so the coincidence as well as my feelings of elation were both too strong to ignore.The piece persues a course from a fairly knotty slow beginning (heralded by a few chords that recur at the very end) full of rising themes (another coincidence - the material had already been sketched before the miners were trapped underground) and reaching a loud climax the quick toccata-like second section bursting vigourously out of the tension which is created at the beginning of the work.

Commissioned by the British Music Society as a Test Piece for its Piano Awards Competition held at Trinity College of Music London on 31st October 2004.The piece was inspired by the peal at Tunstall Church Kent and is a tribute to the Piano music of Maurice Ravel.