three pieces for flute and piano on b-a-c-h

This work was only recently discovered although it is in fact an early work, one of several that Reddy wrote for flute and/or piano while he was a student at the Royal College of Music, with fellow-student Martin Feinstein in mind. Reddy had been studying at the RCM in London since winning a scholarship there at the age of 15, in September 1977, and had loved Bach since childhood. As a student, he was well aware of the number of existing compositions that used BACH’s surname as musical letters (B-flat, A-C-B-natural). These pieces are extremely short, Webernesque: i and ii are 3 bars while iii is 2 bars. They are nevertheless loaded with dynamics and expression marks.

The original autograph is dated 3 December1979. In 2006, Reddy typeset the pieces in Sibelius, making the notation more precise and adding new dynamics and expressive markings. For this edition, all of his directions from 1979 and 2006 are taken into account because they are not contradictory. In the 2006 Sibelius files, Reddy entitles the work “3 pieces on b-a-c-h for flute and piano”, while on the 1979 autograph score it is THREE PIECES FOR FLUTE AND PIANO ON B-A-C-H. Knowing Reddy’s later dislike of capitals letters, ACE’s title is three pieces for flute and piano on b-a-c-h.