Funérailles was written during the summer of 2005. Despite its title, the piece is not intended to be a morbid or even particularly sombre reflection on death or mortality; rather, it takes as a starting point the ritual and sequential shape associated with funerals or other formal ceremonies. It also makes significant use of bell-like tolling gestures as a way of creating a rather formal, cyclic structure. It can probably best be thought of as an extended study in piano sonorities, at times deep, dark, and resonant, at others vivid and bright.Funérailles was first performed by William Howard at the Norfolk and Norwich Festival, on 9th May 2006.
Martin Butler (b.1960)
