I wrote my second book of piano Bagatelles to play in a concert at the Tout-petit Festival de Musique at St. Germain de Calberte, in southern France - where they had their premiere on August 3rd, 2011.

The simple joy in locomotion (no. 1) aims to convey the joyful skipping of young children. The title is taken from a phrase by Barack Obama, and refers to the innocent hope of children, often blighted by lack of opportunity.  Stroking your keys (no. 2) is played caressingly with the finger-tips, as if the piano were a cat or a lover. Now or never (no. 3) is about living in the moment, and is a rhythmic workout. It tolls for thee (no. 4) is the musical heavyweight of this set. Its title is taken from Meditation XVII of John Donne's Devotions: "No man is an island, entire of itself . . . any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee". The tolling of a funeral-bell is gradually set up, one stroke added at a time, each represented by a different chord. Between the tollings of the bell are melodic fragments which depict the life which has ended. Passing wind (no. 5) is a very different story, and needs little explanation: it is a hymn to the expressive, lyrical and comic potential of the fart - le pet sonore.  The meaning of life (no. 6) is a study of the heartbeat which divides life from death. Fibonacci's song (no. 7) uses the first four steps of the Fibonacci sequence (1, 1, 2, 3) as the formal basis of a songlike melody. In Perpetual motion study (no. 8) a rapidly repeated five-note (and five-finger) phrase, starting in the bass, moves upwards and becomes the accompaniment for a melody. It then passes to the right hand, and the roles are reversed. At the end the phrase shoots to the top of the piano and vanishes. Nocturne (no. 9) is a nostalgic melody for just before midnight, and a homage to Chopin. At the end we hear a clock strike midnight, taking us into . . . Midnight tango (no. 10). This is a melancholy valediction: someone about to die hears midnight strike, and imagines (or dances) a tango which symbolises all their long-lost loves, losses and regrets. As the French say, "Tout casse, tout passe, tout lasse".

Giles Swayne
2025