Title: Past Winters Solstice
Year Completed: 1997
Duration: 7 mins
Instrumentation: Piano Trio: violin, cello, piano
Credits: Commissioned by the Royal Academy of Music Junior Academy
Premiere: 1997 London, England: Royal Academy of Music Junior Academy



Purchase/Rent: Canadian Music Centre



Past Winters Solstice was written for the Royal Academy of Music Junior Academy and is intended for players of high school level or higher. The work is through-composed with a form very much like an arch. The opening is serene; the piano plays a unison line. Shortly thereafter the cello enters followed by the violin. The texture develops to a wild crescendo and then subsides at the end. Perhaps this could be analogous to one last storm after the winter solstice and the arrival of spring.

derek charke past solstice