Solo piano, 1997.

Fuga Interna (opposed sonorities), composed for performance by Stephen Gutman at the Purcell Room, London as part of The Debussy Studies Project, which I helped to organise.

This is the first of a continuing series of relatively short works for piano. Each contains brief ‘quotes’ from those that preceded it, but the pieces can be performed in any order and combination, as the performer prefers. All are inspired by the pianist for whom I wrote the particular piece, and also from my experience of playing Bach’s Fugue in B minor, Book 1 of the Well-Tempered Clavier, a work that’s a constant companion in many of my compositional endeavours. As I play it at the piano, it offers a place to meditate on performing and listening. The ways in which the pieces refer to the Bach are often quite rigorous and defined, although not necessarily audibly apparent.