Score: Mercurial Sparks, Volatile Shadows
For alto flute and piano [2005-6]
Duration: 4½ mins.
Commissioned by Music Past & Present
Notes:
Mercurial Sparks, Volatile Shadows began as a response to observing a child’s sparkler with its brilliant silver bursts of sparks and the subsequent frozen patterns of glowing shadows that are perceived afterwards by the eye.
In addition, the work explores a synaesthetic response to the visual qualities of the metal mercury and all its mythological associations. The metal was given its name after the Roman mythological character Mercury, who was known as the fleet-footed messenger of the gods. He was the god of science and the arts, and the patron of travellers and athletes.
Mercurial Sparks, Volatile Shadows was commissioned by Music Past & Present and selected as the winning work in the solo/duo instrumental category in the British Composers Awards 2006, in association with BBC Radio 3. The premiere was given by Emma Williams (alto flute) and Richard Shaw (piano) at Jacksons Lane Theatre, Highgate, London, on the 12th February 2006 as part of the Music Past & Present Festival.
© Patrick Nunn 2006
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