Serenade
for cello and piano (2012)
duration: 6’
GRT • 167
score available from
Australian Music Centre
program note
This serenade for cello and piano is taken from a larger work, Dance Music for Concert Halls. There is a form of ‘dance music’ in the classical tradition whose purpose does not require any dancing. And I often wonder what it means, therefore, to listen to dance music while sitting still. Of course, there’s an inner dance that lifts and moves the spirit and I have always been attracted to music of any age or genre that does that.
The full work was commissioned for Ensemble Liaison by Andrew Johnston to celebrate the 80th birthday of his mother, Stephanie Lillian Johnston. The premiere performance was given on 20 September 2012 at the Melbourne Recital Centre, featuring Svetlana Bogosavljevic (cello) and Timothy Young (piano) in this middle movement.