Paul Lewis

3 Valentines

Three latter-day salon pieces: A Rapture of Roses; A Shimmer of Champagne; Rhapsody in Chocolate
The third of my 'Three Valentines, Rhapsody in Chocolate' was composed in 2007, ever since when I had thought whimsically of writing two companion pieces to represent the other traditional Valentine's Day gifts, Champagne and roses, as an offering to the violin, an instrument I love and grew up with, since my mother, her brother and his wife were busy professional violinists.
The catalyst for the composing of the other movements came in the form of the brilliant virtuoso violinist Nazrin Rashidova, whose performance of my 'Rosa Mundi' with her string orchestra FeMusa moved me like no other had.
Additionally, there were connections that struck a deep chord. Nazrin is of Azerbaijani origin and plays with a wonderful Eastern European sensitivity - my mother was half-Russian and also deeply passionate in her playing. Nazrin directs her own all-female orchestra, the first in Britain for sixty years, and my mother, in her twenties, also had her own all-female ensemble, Phyllis Burstein and Her Bohemian Girls Band, playing the kind of Eastern European gypsy music that was popular at the time.
There was obviously no choice: the two new pieces had to be written for Nazrin. Happily she not only enthusiastically accepted the dedication of 'Three Valentines' and premiered them with pianist Daniel Grimwood at St. James's Church, Piccadilly, London, on August 9th 2017, but also commissioned me to arrange them for FeMusa, premiering them in this version in the Gabala International Music Festival, Azerbaijan, on August 1st 2017. 'Paul Lewis'

Duration about 9 minutes

'Suggestions for bowing and fingering the solo violin part kindly supplied by Nazrin Rashidova'

Also available:
THREE VALENTINES for violin, Strings & Harp or Piano: Goodmusic GMCO154