PRIÈRE ET SCHERZO
Program Notes

Prière et scherzo was written at the request of the festival Forfest Kromeriz 2 000, in the eastern Czech Republic, during which my wife and I premiered it in the magnificent Assembly Hall of the Archbishop's Castle. As Forfest is devoted to arts with a spiritual orientation, the first section is conceived as, to paraphrase Mendelssohn's term, a prayer without words. The unique sonority of the bass flute can make simple long tones a mystical experience, and the prière takes this as its point of departure. By complete contrast, the scherzo is mercurial, tinged with a dark magic in which the two instruments are constantly intertwined to create a rhythmic continuity.