David Jennings

Harvest Moon Suite op. 19

1. Stags in Knole Park: Andante con moto
2. Aira Force: Andante con moto
3. The Haunted Abbey:Presto con moto
4. Harvest Moon:Largo
5. Harlech Castle: Andante maestoso
6. Innisfallen Lake: Andante sostenuto
This suite was composed between 2009 and 2010 and was inspired by six 19th century English watercolours. The work is unashamedly romantic in nature, though this does not preclude moments of darker introspection. The first piece was prompted by 'Stags in Knole Park' by Robert Hills, an artist who specialised in depicting animals in picturesque landscape settings. A striking watercolour by Edward Richardson of Aira Force, an imposing waterfall in the Lake District, suggested the next piece. The third movement, 'The Haunted Abbey', attempts to represent an early 19th century picture by William Payne, a world of exaggerated 'Gothic' gloom, famously lampooned in Jane Austen's 'Northanger Abbey'. 'Harvest Moon' was inspired by a watercolour by George Barret Junior which depicts the night sky illuminated by the moon at its brightest, while workers toil in the fields below. On the right of the picture are some curiously distorted-looking trees, which look rather twisted and sinister. These elements are all featured with material in different registers of the piano suggesting different parts of the picture. Thomas Miles Richardson Senior's stark and compelling watercolour of Harlech Castle is represented in music that uses uncompromisingly dissonant harmonies and melodic fragments that allude to the musical style of the 13th century. George Fennel Robson's glorious picture of Innisfallen Lake, a scene of the utmost tranquillity in the Lakes of Killarney in south-west Ireland, was the inspiration for the final movement.
Duration about 15 minutes - 20 pages - Difficulty: Advanced