SCORES

Caprice

for solo violin 

VIDEO

Philippa Mo performs Caprice in a recording at the Temple Church 6 March, 2021

ABOUT

Caprice was composed in response to a request to include a world premiere performance for a Diploma recital. The work has since found its way into the heart of many young violinists. The seed of inspiration was a close up photo on a postcard of a small bird in flight and is beautifully demonstrated in the two interpretations shown in these videos.

INSTRUMENTATION
solo violin

DURATION
3:00

DATE OF COMPOSITION
1990

PERFORMANCES
9 July 1990 (World Premiere) Anna MacDonald
Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London

1997 Carolyn Lam
Hills Music Club and Mount Lofty Music Club, South Australia.

1998 Carolyn Lam
The City Temple, London. 

2001 Carolyn Lam
Planetarium Proms, Adelaide, South Australia.

2002 Scott Morton,
Sydney Opera House, Sydney

2010 Sophie Rowell
Australian Festival of Chamber Music

2012 Lifei
Royal College of Music, London.

2017 Philippa Mo
Sladers Yard, Dorset, UK

2018 Philippa Mo
Shortwave Cafe, Bermondsey, Londo
CAM recital, London
Nowra School of Arts, Australia
St. Jude’s, Bowral, Australia
Wesley Church in the Mall, Wollongong, Australia
Gerringong Town Hall, Australia

2019 Philippa Mo
Sladers Yard, Dorset, UK

2021 Philippa Mo
Swaledale Festival, North Yorkshire, UK

2023 Philippa Mo
St. Mary’s Church, Norfolk

2023 Madeleine Mitchell
Orfeo Music Festival, Italy
world premiere recording on Naxos
Kansas State University, USA
Noontime Concerts, San Francisco, USA

2023 Madeleine Mitchell
Steinway & Sons, Tokyo, Japan

Two exceptional pieces by Wendy Hiscocks are, Caprice, a stunningly pictorial description of a bird in flight for solo violin, and Dry White Fire for violin with piano, based on an Australian Aboriginal poem concerning drought.
Alan Cooper British Music Society

Carolyn Lam violin

Madeleine Mitchell performs Caprice in a recording in 2020.