Composed: 1997
Duration: 6 minutes
First Performance: March 1997, by Judith Cary ('cello) and Graham Lloyd (piano) at Hagley Hall, Warwickshire.
The Poem for 'Cello and Piano was written as a result of a commission from Thomas and Doreen Somerville for their son Bryce. Venables' previous work for 'cello and piano was the Elegy Op. 2 written some 15 years earlier, and although his musical language has changed considerably during that period of time there is still the intensely lyrical and melancholic sweep to the music. An insistent rhythmic figure on the piano underpinning the 'cello's main melodic idea. Thisis followed by a more passionate outpouring, with the piano writing becoming more agitated and the mood more highly charged. The opening material returns in a more veiled and detached manner, and leads to a highly intense coda where a sudden move to the opening soundworld ending the work in a sombre and desolate manner.