The Concerto for Violin and Orchestra AREPO was written in 2004/5 to a commission from the violinist Stefan Tönz, and is dedicated both to him and to Cristóbal Halffter. It is the second work in my five-part SATOR Cycle. AREPO was awarded first prize at the International George Enescu Composition Competition in 2005.

The Violin Concerto AREPO comprises two extended movements with seemingly different sources of inspiration. Thus the first movement, 'Initium', refers to the atmosphere of the poem of the same name by Federico García Lorca (1898-1936). The second movement, 'De profundis lucis' is a depiction in sound of the impressions gained by my visits to the gothic cathedral of St-Étienne in Bourges, which was built in the 12th-13th centuries at the same time as the cathedrals of Notre-Dame in Paris and Notre-Dame in Chartres. Furthermore, the architectural proportions of this monumental building exerted a direct influence on the structure of this movement. Both movements are united by the use of common musical material, which is derived from the famous magical letter square of 'SATOR, AREPO, TENET, OPERA, ROTAS', and which serves as the basic cell for the work, from which all musical parameters and formal structures are developed.

D.P.H.

St-Étienne de Bourges