This CD is the result of a gift: Peter Swann sent me the score of his piece Prelude & Fandango in 2004. Originally inspired by my friend and colleague Chris Houlding, Peter asked me if I would be interested in performing the piece, and Chris kindly gave me his blessing to give the premier if I could find an opportunity to stage it. I immediately decided that in order to do Peter’s piece justice, it would be necessary to find other music which would enable the performers to explore the potential of this wonderful but completely untried combination. However, although there is now a small but very fine repertoire for trombone and string quartet, harp and trombone duo, and also for harp and string quartet, we could find no other examples for the complete sextet. The challenge, therefore, was to generate a completely new repertoire – and this CD is one of the results of that project.

We are greatly indebted to the Scottish Arts Council, Northern Junior Philharmonic Trust, Hope Scott Trust, Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust and the Britten Pears Trust for their financial support towards the costs of commissioning, touring, and recording this project, and also to the Glenfiddich Artists in Residence scheme which gave me the time, space, and inspiration to compose my own piece during 2007. Finally, special thanks to Ivaylo Hristov of Edition ELM, Bulgaria, who has taken the courageous decision to publish ALL the pieces on this CD as a collection, to ensure that this music is available to future interpreters.

John Kenny

All the music presented on this CD can be purchased for study and performance from Edition Elm: www.EditionElm.eu to order direct: order@editionelm.eu
P.O.Box 32, Sofia 1231, Bulgaria.
Fax +359 2 9344644

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