Three Bars for M.N. from Occasional Pieces for Piano (1942-73)

This collection of sketches, studies and personal tributes was brought together for publication in 1975. Written mainly for amateurs, these pieces weave a personal narrative, giving voice to the gratitude of friendship, the fold of landscape and the articulation of musical tradition.

Poco lento and Andante commodo are washed by tides, whilst Still Music for W.N.R. (the Christchurch doctor William Norris Rogers) and Three Bars for M.N. (the pianist Margaret Nielsen) are characterised by a profound and meditative sense of beauty which, welling out of silence, captures reclining landforms whilst reflecting the composer's strong affinity with his friends. Surprisingly, Nielsen's piece was written in exchange for compost for the composer's garden; but, naturally this music is seeded in the warm earth.