PROGRAM NOTE
A Sestina by Martin Kennedy

Matt's piece begins with a big chord in C Major.
It is soon interrupted by a melodic line in the winds.
Strings soon follow and the music develops,
slowly building into a crescendo and then the music turns
back on itself so that only the piano
can be heard at the end of the piece.

It is interesting to hear how the winds
work with the theme and how the composer develops
the material. The eventual twists and turns
that we hear in the strings and the piano
play a large part of the piece
but one can't really describe it as major.

Rather, it is what we don't hear that really develops -
imagine a sunset that slowly turns
from red to orange to purple or a piano
student practicing a difficult piece.
Maybe you could imagine a drum major
practicing in rough winds.

What about a ballerina in her turns?
We tend to think of these things as piano
but that would be missing a great piece
of the equation. I might have a major
problem with the way music winds
down before it develops.

Let me try again — you are a piano
bar and I am a gold or silver piece.
I suppose that we could stare at Ursa Major
out in the plains, the winds
blowing us to and fro. What develops
from that is a choice of several turns.

This is but a single jigsaw piece.
We are trying to put together the Major.
Yet another run through the winds
Soon we'll see how the film develops.
Damn it. This is not a matter of turns
I have forgotten how to play the piano.

See how you made your rustling winds?
The dark room develops and plots its turns,
Only the piano will give us our peace.