senza misura

Notes

Pianists work in a measured musical space: whatever music they play on any one piano is always made with the same collection of keys and strings. In senza misura this space is the source of music that is never the same but is always made in the same way, twenty-seven sections each made up of twenty-seven events. A performance consists of as many sections as the pianist chooses to play, in any order; when Philip Thomas premiered the work at the 2017 November Music festival in ’s-Hertogenbosch he gave three performances, each time playing a different collection of sections.

senza misura is dedicated to Philip Thomas. For as long as I have known him I have been trying to give him some music that fully responds to the extraordinary subtlety, grace and freedom with which he plays. senza misura was my fourth attempt and I think I may at last have succeeded.