John McCabe

For solo Flute.Composer's Programme Note'March Sonatina is the third in a series of short sonatina-like pieces for soloinstruments and it was commissioned by the 25th Presteigne Festival of Musicand the Arts with funds provided by the Colwinston Charitable Trust and it isdedicated to this most loveable of Festivals. The first performance was given byKathryn Thomas on Tuesday 28th August 2007 at St Mary’s Church Kinnerton.It contrasts a slow opening with a quicker central section and employs a fewspecial flute effects though not to any great extent. In the middle of the piece alyrical phrase from Ravel’sminiature Prelude for piano suddenly pops up andis then varied. It was a surprise to me to find that a high F sharp on which thesonatina ends seemed absolutely the right note on which to finish. Theatmosphere of the opening section seems to me to relate closely to a number ofrecent pieces inspired by rainforests.'