Cantilena for bassoon and piano (Op.11e)

1987/2011, 3 minutes 45 seconds

A free transcription of Cantilena (Op.11), originally for alto saxophone and piano

For Miriam Butler

Its title derives from its prominent use of sustained, smooth-flowing melodic lines; indeed the melody was recycled from an arietta from the opera, Yellow Earth Ridge, which has since been withdrawn by the composer.

Cantilena tries to capture a popular flavour, borrowing freely from pop, jazz and rock styles: primary and secondary chords are used in arpeggiated piano figures, as mainstream ballads might do; pedal notes are a feature, especially on the tonic note, and a ‘bluesy’ style emerges in the third main theme.

A pseudo-rock style is twice used on the climax section, which acts as a song-like chorus.

Cantilena is in the key of D major overall, but even the introduction uses ‘wrong-note’ harmony (notably flattened sevenths) to produce ambiguous tonality. The piece demonstrates a range of tone colour for the bassoon across a wide melodic range.

Listen

You can listen to Cantilena on scoreexchange.com.

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