Paradise

Paradise
Composed by Stephen Hough
for Piccolo and Piano
Published by Josef Weinberger
Includes score and piccolo part

About the Piece:
      I was delighted to be asked to write the test piece for the 2016 National Flute Association Piccolo Artist Competition. But within minutes of accepting the commission I had decided to try to find a different path for this most stereotyped instrument. I wanted to allow this joker, this clown, this pixie, the one who always takes a supporting role, to become the romantic lead. No longer tied to shrieking virtuosic roulades or piercing, stiletto shadows above its larger sibling, I wanted to give the piccolo the chance to play the passionate hero. 
      'Paradise' in this piece suggests a place where the ecstatic, the erotic, and the spiritual meet. The first two of these qualities alternate in the first two sections but after the main climax all gradually becomes calm and the final, third section is all written on white notes: a spiritual paradise beyond the clouds in the clearest sky.