Dominique Pifarély - violin

Izumi Kimura - piano

Entente

 

1. Reiteration
2. Naivité
3. Glide
4. Volition
5. Ambiguity
6. Optimistic-Alypso

 

Entente is a six movement work for improvising violin and piano, commissioned by Dominique Pifarély with the assistance of funds provided by the Arts Council. The piece has both written and improvised passages for both instruments. As always in these kinds of pieces I try and make the movement between the composed and improvised as seamless as possible. I’ve always been an advocate of writing for musicians you know and when I’m writing a piece like this where I know the protagonists and their likely approach to both written and improvised music. These days, jazz musicians can cover such a wide range of music and are familiar with so much music of all kinds and I feel fortunate to have two of the finest improvisers in Europe playing this piece. I’m very familiar with both Dominique and Izumi’s playing and the vast extent of their capabilities, and this made the writing of this piece a real pleasure.

 

The piece is in six movements, each with a different character.

 

1. Reiteration

 

Using the idea of repetition and echoing of ideas around a simple rhythmic theme

 

1. Naivité

 

This has a simple rocking 6/8 rhythm that is both playful and naïve. The melody also has a simple naïve quality about it, hence the title

 

1. Glide

 

A jazz waltz – I took the idea of this from a piece by the great Miles Davis quintet of the 1960s, which uses a similar rhythmic configuration. This is the only movement where there is improvisation over chord changes in the traditional jazz manner.

 

1. Volition

 

A headlong charge through material governed by the opening piano phrase. It is both conversational and, at times, adversarial.

 

1. Ambiguity

 

I tried to write a piece that is melodic yet has no defined tonal centre – at least in the melody – and never repeats. The left hand ostinato remains the same throughout, but the melody makes the ostinato sound harmonically different throughout, and ambiguous….

 

1. Optimistic-alypso

 

A calypso! And like all calypsos, it’s optimistic.