Philip Cashian - Three Pieces

Three Pieces

1. Scenes from Burgos
2. The Silver Surface of the Night
3. The Traveller without a Compass

The first movement consists of thirteen short sections each written for a small ensemble within the group and takes it’s title from a chapter of Julian Rathbone’s book ‘Joseph’. The Silver Surface of the Night’ is a nocturne for solo cello and two accompanying vibraphones. The rest of the ensemble plays a series of dark chords that ocasionally ‘pass across’ the cello line. The final movement, ‘The Traveller without a Compass’ is a moto perpetuo driven along, for the most part, by 4 solo violins and 2 marimbas. The title (which I couldn’t resist) is the name of a painting by Jean Dubuffet.
Philip Cashian

I’ve never heard a Cashian piece that did not spring to individual, fetching life. More, please!
The Financial Times

Mercurial
The Guardian

Cashian’s piece was a deftly crafted three-movement work full of beguiling sounds.
The Daily Telegraph

An involvingly warm-hearted triptych vividly coloured by the composer’s true and accurate inner ear.
The Birmingham Post

A work sharp in both thought and execution, with an affectingly beautiful central movement.
London Evening Standard

First performed by BCMG, conducted by Alex Briger, at CBSO Centre, Birmingham on 31 May 2004.