On Monday 2 November, 7pm pianist Maria Marchant will broadcast live from London’s Blüthner Piano Centre via her Facebook page, including the première of Susannah Self’s Quiltscape III.
This performance of Quiltscape III is part of a series ‘7 Notes in 7 Days at 7pm’ started by Maria during the 2020 lockdown. She has been premiering a solo piano piece each Monday evening since July, showcasing composers to a global online audience. Maria recently spoke about her series to Sean Rafferty on Radio 3 and the project has also been listed on Classic FM’s stream guide and on the Gramophone Music blog. Composers featured include: Roderick Williams, Charlotte Botterill and Joanna Gill.
Maria says about Quiltscape III
I am so excited to be sharing Susie’s Quiltscape III – the piece reminds me of a bespoke tapestry, multi-layered and full of verve and surprises!
Maria Marchant
And Sussannah tells us about writing the piece and her quilting-inspired compositional technique:
Quiltscape III was composed specifically for Maria after I sang in a charity concert with her organised by Roddy Williams in 2017. At the time I was working on my opera Quilt Song. I was so inspired by Maria’s virtuoso playing of Liszt’s variations on Wagner that I went away and developed Quiltscape III by sourcing themes from Quilt Song but then went on to discover new more daring material. As in the opera, I employ my compositional methodology of quilting to allow converse and eclectic musical material to co-exist within a formal template similar to the way in which a quilt is constructed.
Quiltscape III is published this month by Composers Edition along with another easier piano piece whose material is also sourced from Quilt Song called The Poet’s Muse. This is inspired by the inner struggle of The Poet during the opera who is secretly a pacifist.
We are also thrilled with the news that Susannah has been asked by English Touring Opera’s education department to compose some songs for their online programmes aimed as children with special needs. We can’t wait to listen to this new project!
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Tags: Blüthner Piano Centre, Maria Marchant, online premiere, piano, premiere, Quilt Song, Quiltscape III, Susannah Self
