Piano Septet in G Minor (2022)

Scored for Piano, Viola, Cello, Double Bass, Flugelhorn and two Bassoons, the Piano Septet in G minor was heavily inspired by the works of Johann Nepomuk Hummel and his Piano Septets. I've long been a great lover of the works of Hummel, and find both his concertos and his chamber music to be of a very high quality. 

This Septet came together over the course of 6 or 7 months, with the initial drafts for the 1st movement being written in the Summer of 2021 and the completion of that 1st movement and subsequent movements 2, 3 and 4 over the Winter of 2021/22. The instrumentation was chosen for a variety of reasons. Having used Violin in the first Piano Trio I was experimenting with drafts for a second trio which would have a viola instead of the violin. With that in mind when I came to the initial drafts for the Septet the Piano, Cello and Viola were very much in my mind already. The Double Bass joined them, firstly because I am a Double Bass player myself, and secondly because of the inspired way in which the Bass is used in both Hummel's Septets and in Saint-Saëns'. The Flugelhorn has long been a favourite of mine, I prefer it to the harshness of the Trumpet and yet its range allows it to play that melodic role within this Septet. The choice of 2 Bassoons was inspired by my use of 2 Bassoons in my film score for 'All About my Sister' (2019) in which, for a number of cues, I utilised two bassoons playing off each other.

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I - Allegro Agitato

II - Allegretto

III - Larghetto

IV - Vivace

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Duration - 15:30