Trois Pieces Negres pour les Touches Blanches, to give the full title, is here arranged for orchestra by Peter Lawson.

Constant Lambert composed these exciting and catchy pieces for piano duet in 1949, for a live broadcast by the piano duo of the identical twin sisters Mary and Geraldine Peppin. The composer was present and was adding finishing touches in pencil right up to the start of the performance! The idea of writing the three ‘black’ pieces for the white notes, came out of his love for jazz and its African-American roots and of the interesting harmonies which can result from just restricting this to the key of C major and A minor without any chromatic additions.

There are interesting nods here to Aaron Copland and the Mexican folk music of his El Salón Mexico - the influence of Latin American music figures prominently in the first piece, Aubade. The third piece, Nocturne, has a lovely Caribbean feel - certain to raise a smile with its lilting 5/4 rhythm below an attractive calypso-like melody. In between is a warm and romantic Siesta…perhaps in a hammock between palm trees! In orchestrating the three pieces I wanted to celebrate the vitality, fun and pleasure that this rarely-heard masterpiece always conveys to audiences…a nine-minute long gem in three refreshing movements.

Peter Lawson