Variations for Judith

Eleven short reflections on Bist du bei mir by G.H. Stölzel arr J.S. Bach for piano (easy to intermediate)Judith Serota was Executive Director of the Spitalfields Festivals in east London until late 2007. As asurprise leaving present to her the then Artistic Director of the Festival Diana Burrell conceived the idea of assembling a set of Piano pieces of easy to intermediate difficulty for her to play. These were to be variations ona theme: Bist du bei mir a song for voice and continuo in J.S. Bach's second Klavierbüchlein or 'Little Keyboard Book'.The variations were written by the Artistic Directors of the Spitalfields Festival all composers with whom Judith had worked over the preceding 20 years. Since then several more composers linked to the Festival during those years have contributed pieces. The result is Variations for Judith 'eleven short reflections' on the theme.

The King Of France is a set of variations on the tune El Rey De Francia. There is a hint of the tune's Spanish background in the dry brittle textures of some of the the later variations. The work was written for SusanTomes in 1993 and lasts about eight minutes.

Score and Parts.Commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Centre. First performance 19 May 1998 Merkin Concert Hall New York City.Quoting Weir: 'In my previous work I have often enjoyed inventing titles whichattempt to encapsulate the particular world of each composition but this fifteen minutes piece for violin cello and piano is simply entitled Piano Trio . What is the reason for this unusually abstract description? I thinkperhaps that in this piece the many external impressions which habitually make up my musical world have become too numerous and too personal to be pinned down in the space of few words that a composition title allows.The firstmovement began in my mind with impressions of Venice as relayed in Schubert's song Gondelfahrer; the crisp midnight air the dark choppy water the bells tolling the gondolier alone in emotional turmoil. Schubert's world is aplace where I can find constant inspiration and strength.The second movement recalls a time when I was called from a phone box in Africa. At one moment I was alone in my room the next (or so it seemed in my imagination)surrounded by light heat and sudden energy and activity. The movement is not however an evocation of African music; it takes the form of a scherzo and trio which collide with each other at the movement's conclusion.Thethird movement formed in my mind whilst I was reading some Gaelic poetry from the Hebridean island of Lewis on Scotland 's far flung Atlantic fringe. I was thinking of the bleached white beaches in that part of the world whereevery object lying on the sand - a washed-up bottle or a bird's skeleton - is a major event in a deserted landscape. The same might be said of this short set of musical variations where melodic fragments are laid out with plentyof space around them clear and plain for everyone to hear.