I recently found out that one of my solo piano pieces has been shortlisted for the Presteigne Festival Composers’ Competition 2011. I wrote two more piano studies, based on material I used for Klaviertrio im Geiste, and submitted them in February. Alissa Firsova is going to workshop and record the pieces next Tuesday at Birmingham Conservatoire, and then they’ll announce the winner. Fingers crossed.

Once the competition is over I’ll add these Two Studies to my growing collection of piano studies. These two are another study in tremolo, and one in the use of pedals. They’re little ‘crystallisations’ of classical sonata movements (in this case, a scherzo and a rondo)… but without the fluff (particularly in the case of the rondo, which is very sparse). I’ll post up a recording soon and perusal score soon.