Although highly notated, precise, carefullystructured, soundly proportioned, and while themusician is elegantly working from a nuanced, specifictext, I like my music to have the feeling that it isorganically being self-propelled – on the spot - as if welisteners are overhearing (capturing) an un-notated,deeply musical improvisation. With VENUS ENCHANTED, I wanted tocompose a short piece that “shows off” the player’smany talents: elegant soft playing, rich double stops,virtuosic music, athletic music, driving and passionatemusic, calm music, etc. I wanted to try to sculpt a shortpiece - but one with fertile variety of characters allwoven together in a tightly integrated and organiccomposition –so as to illustrate a variety of colors insublime string playing. VENUS is the Roman goddess whose functionsencompassed love, beauty, fertility, prosperity,victory, and desire.Augusta Read Thomas