Kyle Horch (alto saxophone) Pavel Timofejevsky (piano) perform:

Ian Stewart: Eremitani Sonata Allegro ~ Adagio ~ Allegro

at St Peter's Church Notting Hill on 20th June 2011. Filmed by Richard Carruthers at Music Chamber's concert series.

Ian Stewart is a multifaceted musician who grew up in England, Scotland and Malta. He has written numerous works for saxophone in solo, duo, chamber and large ensemble settings. A CD of his recent chamber music - Islas - was released on the Music Chamber label in October 2010, featuring music for classical saxophone (soprano and tenor), violin, and piano. These compositions reflect the influences of ambient, psychedelic folk, and Celtic music, as well as Baroque and 19th century classical music. Apart from live performances, his compositions have received several broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 and on Catalunya Mùsica; they are also frequently used in television programmes. Classical compositions have been performed by John Harle with the Brodsky Quartet and Smith Quartet, Kyle Horch, Carole Sutherland, the Cre.Art Ensemble in Barcelona, and at one of the inaugural concerts at the Bob Cole Conservatory, California. Arrangements of Chick Corea's Children's Songs have been broadcast on BBC Wales Music Now and BBC Radio 3, and he was string arranger on the Love album released by Zomba Production Music. His electronica and rock music is released by several library companies. More information about Ian’s work can be found at ianstewart.eu. Of the Eremitani Sonata, which was composed for Kyle Horch in 1993, Ian has written “The title refers to the Eremitani Church and its immediate area in Padua, in the Veneto region of northeastern Italy. It is a beautiful area, in the centre of a thriving Italian university town. In this work the saxophone and piano share the material equally. There are references to two motifs from Liszt's Dante sonata, one being the falling augmented fourth interval in a dotted rhythm, the other a melodic figure based on a semitone. While composing this work I heard the Dante sonata on the radio and the augmented fourth motif seemed very much implied in the opening piano chord. In the third movement, after the opening, the piano plays a section that refers to the Baroque keyboard toccata style and the writing between the saxophone and piano is in the spirit of a two part invention.”