PROGRAMME NOTES

Three Statements

Organ (1964)

The Three Statements arose from some work in improvisation I was doing with students at the College of St Mark and St John, documented in a series of six articles in the Musical Times. In No.1 the wide melodic leaps and note clusters were unusual in organ music at that time. The dramatic No. 2 has a sustained symbolic G major triad held throughout, always in the distance, and it expands slightly towards the end before returning. No.3 alternates between a type of chorale, based entirely on chords built in fourths, against two-part passages where the melody usually disagrees with its stepwise lower part.

First performance by the composer; recorded by Jennifer Bate on Peter Dickinson: Complete Solo Organ Works.