Night Dances by Sally Beamish is a contemporary work for solo piano based on a narrative by Peter Thomson and inspired by the playing of Keith Jarred. A gentle, repetitive opening is followed by a series of dances which increase in intensity before reaching an abrupt climax, after which echoes of the dances gradually wind down to a recapitulation of the opening music. Night Dances was commissioned by the Court of the University of Glasgow and was written for Huw Watkins who first performed it on 8 March 2018 in the ‘Music in the University’ lunchtime series at the University of Glasgow.
