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The Master (Confucius) does not ‘know’, but seeks to learn from antiquity. He does not memorize a great number of different things, but seeks their underlying unity. This all makes him, in his estimation, fit to teach others. He will offer them one corner and expect them to deduce the other three (of the square). He performs on a kind of stone drum. A passer- by comments the way the music expresses feelings, but he scorns its one-sided obstinacy.

I composed this as a set of elaborations on different aspects of an idea. The inspiration is partly Joseph Haydn’s Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross, similarly seven adagios for chamber orchestra, followed by a brief allegro. There are in the Haydn (and I hope in my piece) ‘feelings’ and possibly one-sided obstinacy.

Programme note © Alexander Goehr