Summer Music

Scored for Violin, Viola, Violoncello and Piano. Score and Parts are included.

In the late Summer of 2017, I composed this Summer Music, originally for Clarinet, Cello and Piano, but I then also arranged it for a variety of instrumental combinations, and most recently, this one, for Piano Quartet; a more re-composed version of the original made especially for a concert presented by the English Music Festival in Cornwall, in July 2021. This version of the work is dedicated to Em Marshall-Luck, founder of the festival.

Although given the title of Summer Music and originally composed during the month of August, the music of the first two movements is instilled with a certain unease, a longing for happier times perhaps; it must have been my mood at the time as the late summer of 2017 was particularly wet and stormy - and now, here again in 2020, as I re-invent this piece for Piano Quartet, the world is a changed one as we try to live through the Coronavirus Pandemic. However, the final movement (Bicycles on Sunday Morning) returns us to summery optimism; in fact, during lockdown I bought a bike and as the weather in early Summer was surprisingly lovely, I took myself off on long bike rides along the River Avon, almost daily - losing myself in the quiet unspoilt beauty of this country. Paul Carr

The three movements are titled: One weekend in August; The softness of rainfall at night; Bicycles on Sunday morning.

Duration 15 minutes