• Judith Weir
  • Ardnamurchan Point (1990)

  • Chester Music Ltd (World)
  • 2pf
  • 10 min

Programme Note

'Ardnamurchan Point is a place I have never quite been to. It is on a very far distant part of the western Scottish coast line. In fact, my family used to live on the east coast, and we'd sometimes drive to this place for a beautiful day out. But once you get there, the road bends and winds so much, and we would always set off home before we got to Ardnamurchan Point. So for me, it is a slightly unattainable direction far away.'

[Judith Weir interviewed by Max Nyffeler in 1996]

Ardnamurchan Point, for two pianos, is named after a far-flung spot at the end of an extremely winding road on the West Coast of Scotland. Although this is an entirely abstract composition, something of the bleached quality of the seashore in that part of the world seems to emerge from the music.

Ardnamurchan Point is a continuous variation of a short fragment of Hebridean melody heard at the outset of the piece. During the course of the piece (which lasts just under ten minutes) the register the pianos use gradually broadens; as does the range of pitch classes (limited initially to the seven 'white notes' on the piano).

Ardnamurchan Point was written for Edmund Niemann and Nurit Tilles in 1990.

© Judith Weir

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Ardnamurchan Point

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