& ante

What just denoted walking pace,
the leisured middle movement stroll, becomes –
with an exquisite error of transcription – the question:
“And before?” Nothing so simple as: “And then?”

To find a way into this mystery,
we could walk awhile, and then look back,
triangulate future and present
towards a not yet remembered past.

The sonata encompasses familiar patterns,
flowing and developing in its path –
but is this really “And before?”,
or just the prelude to a question?

& ante asks about the preconceptual moment
when the composer is imagined by the performer.


© Anthony Pinching

Published in:
‘Soundscapes – A Musician’s Journey through Life and Death,
by Paul Robertson. Faber & Faber, London 2016. pp. 221-2.