Program Notes
Consolations (2004) by RYAN ANTHONY FRANCIS (b. 1981)
Consolations is a work of suspended power, poignancy, and expansiveness. Narratively based on the poetry of “Die Nebensonnen” from Schubert’s Winterreise, the piece evokes the pathos of loss and remembrance. This existential journey is embodied in spellbinding soundscapes of constantly-shifting textures, omnipresent phrasal layering, and virtuosic gestures. A sense of timelessness and the complex subtleties of the piano writing are essential elements of Francis’s idiom.
©2007 Elizabeth Joy Roe. All rights reserved.