An Artists Blog: ROME'S PARADISE for Woodwind Trio - Flute, Oboe, Bassoon David Nicholas Slater

This is a piece with no straightforward keys. Like all my recent works, it lives in exotic scales - sharps and flats everywhere; no one in the same key at the same time. But the structure of Rome's Paradise is very clear, and very classical in its own way: duets leading to trio, then a new texture, then a final drive.

How it is built:

1. Opening - Duets moving into full trio with section repeat (Bars 1-13)
The piece does not start with all three. It starts as a conversation between two.
Bars 1-4: Flute and Oboe in duet. You see it on the first page of the score. Flute has a lyrical line - D, B, A, G# - with those exotic chromatic neighbours, while Oboe answers underneath with Eb, D, Db, C - a flattened, darker version of the same idea. Bassoon is not part of the duet yet. Bassoon holds a long, low pedal - a whole note D, then a whole note E, then a whole note Bb - like the foundation of a garden wall. The two high voices dance over the top, not in the same key, creating that bittersweet paradise feeling.

Bar 5-7: The duet becomes a full trio. Flute, Oboe and Bassoon all play together for the first time. Flute takes the lead with sixteenth-note flourishes, Oboe takes a quicker answering flourish, Bassoon still anchors with long notes but now moving in half notes. You hear all three exotic scales at once.

Bars 8-13: Flute solo with Bassoon answering, then section repeat. Bars 8-9 show Flute alone with fast chromatic runs - exotic scale with sharps - while Oboe rests and Bassoon plays a fast descending run in quarter notes with # and b. This is the solo duet texture again - one solo on top, one low answering. Then Bars 14-21 are a literal section repeat of the opening idea, but varied. You see the double bar line at bar 21 in your score. That repeat is important - it is like entering the garden gate twice, the second time knowing where the paths go. Flute holds long, Oboe plays a short duet figure with exotic Bb and G#, Bassoon holds long low notes. It closes the first garden.

2. Middle Section - Half notes on Bassoon with duets of Flute and Oboe on top (Bars 22-26)
This is the heart of the paradise. Look at bars 22-26 on the second system of page 2.
Bassoon moves to half notes. Instead of whole-note pedals, Bassoon now plays slow half notes - D, E, F, G- with long slurs, very legato, like a slow procession through cypress trees. These half notes are the heartbeat, steady, grounded, always with b or # - no plain diatonic notes.

Flute and Oboe in duet on top. Over those half notes, Flute and Oboe return to duet texture, but now higher and more intertwined. Flute plays eighth-note figures - A, B, C#, D# - exotic, rising, while Oboe weaves underneath with its own version in quarter notes, with ties and slurs. They are not playing the same rhythm - one in quarters, one in eighths - just like your Enigma Machine technique, but here it is gentle, not discordant. It is two birds over a slow river. The exotic scales make it shimmer - Flute may have G# while Oboe has Gb at the same moment, a beautiful clash.

3. Final Section - Bassoon plays quarter notes with Flute and Oboe soloing on top (Bars 27-31)
Page 3 shows the change clearly.

Bassoon switches to quarter notes. Now the low voice drives. Bars 27-31: Bassoon has continuous quarter notes - D, E, F, E, D, C#, B, Bb - each note slurred, walking, with flats creeping in. The half-note procession is over; now we are moving forward, leaving paradise, but still inside it.

Flute and Oboe soloing on top. Over that walking bassoon, Flute takes a true solo - bar 27 shows Flute alone with A, G#, A, B, with a slur, then rests, then a high B and natural flourish at bar 29 with G# G# markings from your score - fast, exotic, bird-like. Oboe then takes over as soloist - bar 30 shows Oboe alone with a descending figure A, G#, E, D#, with a slur, while Flute rests. They are no longer duetting constantly; they are soloing, one at a time, on top of the bassoon quarter notes. Flute solo, then oboe solo, then flute again. The texture is thinner, clearer, more virtuosic.

The piece ends with the bassoon tying over its quarter notes into a final long note - bar 31 - while Flute and Oboe hold silence. The garden is left with just the low voice, fading.

Why Exotic Scales:

Like I said, I use them all the time; no straightforward keys for me. In Rome's Paradise, Flute may be in a scale with E major sharps on paper but playing F natural and Bb; Oboe may be in Eb with flats but playing G# and C#; Bassoon may be playing a whole-tone fragment. That is paradise - not a plain C major garden, but a garden where every flower is a different colour, every scale a different scent.
Instrumentation: Flute, Oboe, Bassoon

Form: Duets -> Full Trio with repeat -> Bassoon half notes + Flute/Oboe duets -> Bassoon quarter notes + Flute/Oboe solos