When I sat down to compose my piece for Project Trio, my first task was to get a feel for the ensemble itself and to determine the musical personalities of its individual members. As I watched their stunning videos and listened to the recordings, the first thing I felt was awe at PT’s consummate virtuosity: I knew that these musicians could take anything I threw at them, in terms of technical challenges! The other thing that struck me was the way the trio expressed the urban spirit with their restless bustle and movement. It wasn’t long before an imaginary story board took shape in my mind’s eye of a trio of city commuters making their journeys to work. Throughout the piece, they hurry and jostle, run and dodge; all the time with one eye on the clock! They scoot along the sidewalk, dive into dark subways, scurry up stairways and clatter across bridges. There are passages of comparative calm as they are whisked through the city in buses, trains and cabs, only to be disgorged into the hurrying stream of humanity once more. I hope that the listener will feel part of the breathless rushing and sigh with relief as the travellers arrive at their destination with seconds to spare!
Andrew Wilson's music has been performed all over the world, from London’s famous Royal Albert Hall, to the University of Wisconsin. In 2016, his children’s opera “The Green Children” was produced to great acclaim at the Woolpit Festival. 2017 has already seen premieres of various commissions: the concert overture “Hartland Point” for the North Devon Sinfonia; choral and brass incidental music for the Tavistock Passion Play and “Conversation Pieces” for Piano Quintet by the Dante String Quartet with renowned pianist Mark Bebbington. Future plans include “La Rosace” an organ work for Notre Dame Cathedral Paris, a Requiem to commemorate the end of World War One in Plymouth Minster and a large scale choral work on the subject of the Pilgrim Fathers, for the 400th anniversary celebrations of the sailing of the “Maylower”, in the port of Southampton. He lives with his wife, in the beautiful English town of Tavistock, on the edge of Dartmoor National Park.