"Music from the North Lands" includes several pieces by composers who have a natural affinity with the often rather bleak, but austerely beautiful land - and sea-scapes of the north. In fact the music by David Horne was commissioned by the Nicholson Pierce Duo for performance at the Northlands Festival in 1993. This Festival has sought to link the artistic ventures and artists of the Scandinavian, Icelandic and Scottish peoples, and is centred (in Scotland) on the towns of Thurso and Wick. Eluned and David have worked for a number of years as a duo, and as colleagues in such orchestras as the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (of which David was principal flute until September 2001), leaving to devote more time to solo work and teaching), and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, of which Eluned was the harpist until leaving to take up her present position of harpist with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

Folk Memories in Autumn - Edward McGuire

Edward McGuire was born in 1948, and studied the flute with David Nicholson at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music in Glasgow. Subsequently, he studied in London, at the Royal Academy of Music, with James Iliffe, and in Sweden with Ingvar Lidholm. His output has included many chamber works, a ballet, (Peter Pan, which has received over 100 performances), and solo pieces, including "Prelude 3" for solo flute, (one of a series of pieces fro solo instruments). Edward McGuire also plays the flute in "The Whistlebinkies", a Glasgow based folk group of which he is founder and director. Of the two movements, which were specially arranged for David and Eluned, the first is a haunting evocation of the music of the isles, and the second, ostensibly a jig, has reflective moments which suggest, maybe, a remembered, rather than an active, dance.

Three Dirges - David Horne

The composer provided the following note for the first performance of the work, which took place on 23 September 1993, at the Northlands Festival in Thurso, Scotland. "Three Dirges was written in August 1993 while I was in residence at the Vermont Festival. Each movement is different, both in material and character, though there is a harmonic idea woven through each movement. This is particularly audible at the beginning, and towards the end of the second and third movements. The first movement is mysterious and rhapsodic, the second is a faster moto perpetuo, while the third is the simplest, sounding calm and reflective." The work is dedicated to the memory of Saeed Montazery, who died in March 1993.

Two Dances for Caroline Mathilde - Sir Peter Maxwell-Davies

When the Scottish Chamber Orchestra was playing the suite that 'Max' made from the ballet music he wrote for the Royal Danish Ballet, I mentioned to him how beautifully one of the movements worked for flute and harp, and how nice it would be if there were more music that would be suitable for Eluned and I. A few months later, Max sent us these two lovely dances! We are very grateful to him, and now that they are published, I feel sure they will receive many performances.

Towards the Sea - Toru Takemitsu

"Towards the Sea" belongs to a series of pieces Takemitsu wrote on 'watery' subjects. Takemitsu remained, throughout his life, a highly individual voice in Japanese music, largely self taught, and with very wide interests in art and poetry, he was, for a time, part of a group of artists working in several disciplines. This work dates from 1981, and is scored for alto flute and harp, or for alto flute and guitar. There is a 3-note motif, common to all three movements, formed from the notes E flat, E, and A. The German system of notation renders E flat as Es, and hence Es(S), E and A(SEA). The choice of an alto flute, together with special fingerings, trills, and pitch alterations, is surely meant to suggest the sound of the Shaguhachi. The movement titles are "The Night", "Moby Dick" and "Cape Cod". Nantucket, near Cape Cod, was the capital of the whaling industry in 19th century USA, and it was from here that the ill fated whaler 'Essex' sailed for the tragic encounter in the Pacific with an enormous sperm whale, which rammed the ship, resulting in it's sinking, and which provided the inspiration for Melville's novel. A sense of the limitless expanse of the ocean pervades this music, encapsulating, I am sure, the bleak but magnificent seascapes of the north Atlantic.

Sonata (1926) - Adrian Shaposhnikov

Adrian Shaposhnikov was born in 1888 and died in 1967. he was a native of St. Petersburg and studied there, graduating in 1913 as a pupil of Glazunov. Having also studied at the St. Petersburg Technical Institute, he worked first as an engineer, and then freelance composer. He later moved to the Turkmen republic, and is credited with writing the first 'Turkmen' Opera, but his wide range of compositions include a ballet, a cello sonata and many pieces for piano as well as songs. Impressionistic influences have been ascribed to him, and he has also been described as a composer of romances. Both characteristics are present in the work played here. A complex first movement begins with florid passages for the flute, followed by an Allegro section containing rhythmic interchanges between the two instruments. A graceful minuet follows; simple in outline perhaps, but containing, as indeed does the whole work, much virtuoso writing for both players. The last movement is a 6/8 movement, extremely vigorous in it's character, ending with a return to the material and mood of the opening of the sonata.