These virtuosic piano pieces were composed for Matthew Schellhorn. The following programme notes are by the composer.

1. A terse and fiery opening gives way to slower, more contrapuntally
elaborate music. The movement explores the connections between these
contrastingly presented materials, often changing tempo as the focus
shifts between the two moods established at the outset. After a plateau
of stasis around a trill, the opening material is revisited and
expanded as if zooming in on something previously observed at a
distance. From then the music soon 'pans out', slowing towards its
reflective ending.

2. The second Scherzo reassembles some of the musical material of the
first, but directs it towards a short, frenetic burst of energy.
Occasionally, the first Scherzo can be heard more clearly 'poking
through' the texture. In the course of the helter-skelter some ideas -
such as the tinkling figure at the opening - swell up to giant
proportions, while others shrink into the background. About two thirds
of the way through, a spiky fugato (in a mixture of twos and threes
like Bernstein's 'I Want to Live in America') breaks out and although
its momentum is thwarted twice it finally sweeps the music to a
breathless close.

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