Nocturne No.1  for piano solo Op.20 (1986) c.7'00"

Commissioned by the La Gesse Foundation

Dedicated to David Syme

First performed on November 21st, 1986 at the Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center in Washington, DC by David Syme

ABOUT

My Nocturne No.1, Op.20 has, as its inspiration, something akin to the Valses Oubliees of Liszt. The intended effect is of a beautiful melody imperfectly remembered and distorted through a troubled imagination and interrupted by more fatalistic realizations. Contrary to assumptions that I was inspired by Chopin in the title of the work, it was actually the Nocturnes of the Irish composer John Field that had captured my attention around that time. It became the first of a form that has preoccupied me for my entire compositional career: the latest in the series, Nocturne No.12, was written in 2024. The Nocturne was commissioned by the La Gesse Foundation for my good friend pianist David Syme to premiere at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. in 1986.

RECORDINGS

REVIEWS

“It is quietly rocking, albeit too brief, dream music.”
The Washington Post