While I was composing the piano quartet Emerald Crossing – a serene passacaglia with characteristics of a barcarolle – I was haunted by an image of a canoe propelled slowly across calm green water, possibly a lagoon, towards an island. No doubt symbolic at a deep level, I had the feeling that the journey was ceremonial – that a ritual was being enacted.

Emerald Crossing also exists in versions for piano and string orchestra and full orchestra. It is paired with my White Ghost Dancing in the orchestral diptych To the Green Island. The original piano quartet was commissioned by the Australian Piano Quartet and premiered in the Perth Concert Hall on 23 July 2000.

© Ross Edwards

listen:

Emerald Crossing