Rūta Vitkauskaitė

Programme Note

When I was studying at the Royal Academy of Music, there used to a shortage of room for practice at times, and people would find corners around the building to refine their tunes. There was one particular starcase, at the bottom of which was just enough space for one guitar player to place their chair and practice their Bach. I don’t know who it was, but he was there often, and it was so beautiful and delicate, and it was my favourite staircase to go up to the classes, in delicately fading perfect guitar plucks echoring upwards. My piece is nothing like Back, but this delicate sound and sentiment is there, as well as semi-poliphonic entaglement of the three lines. It was my first piece I’ve written for guitars. Commissioned by concert series 840 for What Guitar Trio, London