University of York Music Press

After a short biography of Simaku, the presenter announced: “He began composing his cycle of “Soliloquies” in 1998. The series has grown to encompass all the instrumental families of the orchestra. The aim of these works is to delve into and examine the expressive and technical characteristics of each instrument, producing highly virtuosic and idiosyncratic music. Each of them achieves a depth of expression beyond what seems possible with a single instrument.”

Selected by the ISCM International July, and described by Seen & Heard critic Peter Graham Woolf as ‘A piece of unaccompanied violin writing which brings out the instrument's genius for passionate expression’, Soliloquy I received its world premiere at the 2000 ISCM Festival in Luxemburg, performed by Vania Lecuit; it was subsequently recorded by Peter Sheppard-Skaerved and released by Naxos in 2008. The CD reached the “best of year list” of the American Magazine ‘Fanfare’.