Prior to Sam Cave’s multi-facetedly important concert in Wigmore Hall in March, in which he premièred Bountiful, I grabbed a precious few hours with him in Acton Town last January (more or less straight off the plane after something close to 24 hours of travelling via Abu Dhabi). In this rehearsal I heard the whole piece straight through for the first time (he played it for me twice), and that is always a satisfying and often surprising experience. It’s a busy piece, but it’s actually a short piece, and we both agreed that the shortness came as a surprise to both of us, in whose inner ears the musical details had occupied a disproportionate cognitive space. The meditative quality of the formal repetitions (rather than the material itself) came through too.
Rehearsing my music with talented performers is incomparably rewarding, and every time I work with Sam on a new solo piece, it does not fail to delight. I thought some of our discussions were very interesting (mainly the things Sam said, more than me in my drowsy state), and so I felt it worth sharing as a document for the curious. I have tried to include the relevant score extracts at each moment in the discussion, but it is hard to elucidate every exact point that we’re pondering. I nonetheless think that the general discussion makes for an interesting listen that I hope might be valuable for someone out there.
Forthcoming Wigmore Hall Performance of “Bountiful”, 13th March 2026
「Felix namque」的吉他創作項目：由吉他演奏家Sam Cave委約的新獨奏作品“bountiful”（《穰穰》）已完成（2022年）