Catherine Neville

Oboe (or Violin) and Piano

Composer's Note:

This playful work is inspired by the unpredictable flight patterns of butterflies circling around bright flowers. The butterfly arrives as a solo oboe (or a solo violin), flitting its way across our line of vision until the piano joins, setting the garden scene. Alternating seemingly at random, the metric organization of the work incorporates shifting time signatures to create a feeling of pulse that is nearly steady, but not quite, as the soloist plays the role of the butterfly flitting delicately above and around a colorful bed of flowers, depicted in the piano. In C major, the highly chromatic configurations dart playfully around the tonal center before finally landing, carefully but firmly, on the tonic in the final measure.