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Paramell Va (1981) |
solo piano - Duration: 7 minutes 30 seconds
First performance: 8 December, 1981, The Mumford Theatre, Anglia Polytechnical College, Cambridge, UK. Philip Mead, piano
Paramell V was commissioned by the Swedish two piano team, Mats Persson & Kristine Scholz and written while I was in residence at The MacDowell Artists' Colony, Peterborough, New Hampshire in the winter of 1981. Paramell Va is a solo version I arranged for a concert Philip Mead was giving in Cambridge (England) later that season. Both versions are virtuoso toccata moto perpetuo reflecting my early interest in the so-called 'minimalist' American composers and the idea of gradually increasing the density and intensity of the keyboard fury until it reaches full throttle at the climax of the work. Paramell Va radically departs from the minimalist canon by its clear sense of growth, climax and dénouement, something not usually found in minimalist pieces at the time.
"Paramell" is an invented word combining the words "parallel" and "melody". There are a total of seven "paramells" the last of which is for solo piano with flute, clarinet and cello colouring the piano part.
© Stephen Montague