Marzipan by DAVID BRUCE

Listening through to the 24 Paganini Caprices, one of the things that struck me was how consistently strident they are in tone. There is plenty to enjoy in their virtuosic displays of course, but might it not be possible, I thought, to offer such a display in a gentler, sweeter way?

'Marzipan' ­ a 'small, sweet gift to Jennifer Koh' attempts to do just that, and does so from the outset with what I consider a quite radical move for a virtuoso show piece ­ an instruction to play 'con sordino' throughout. Much of the piece is also marked piano, but with rhythmic sforzandi marking a folk­like dance rhythm. One of the main areas this study­like piece explores is the very fast bowing effect found in Irish fiddle music.