A Folding Screen is a collection of songs for Soprano, Clarinet and Pianoforte based on ancient Chinese poems. The structure of the piece is such that each performer has a solo, a duo with each of the others and three pieces for the whole ensemble. There are nine movements:

1. A Morning Time (Soprano, Clarinet, Pianoforte) – Liu K’o Chuang
2. Night Thoughts (Soprano, Pianoforte) – Li Bai
3. Kuan Ch’u (Clarinet)
4. Folding Screen I (Pianoforte)
5. Winter Nights (Soprano, Clarinet, Pianoforte) – Chien Wen-Ti
6. A Flower (Soprano) – Po Chu I
7. Folding Screen II (Clarinet, Pianoforte)
8. Dank Mist, Desolation (Soprano, Clarinet)
9. In the Empty Mountains (Soprano, Clarinet, Pianoforte)

In the performance recorded here, the soprano is Joanne Brown, the clarinettist, Andrea Gould, and the pianist, Naila Maharramova. It was recorded live at The Fridge, Al Quoz, Dubai 17/03/2014

So ito a Sperana was written as a memorial to my father-in-law who passed away in 2002 after a long illness. Asperano (in dialect “Sperana” is the area where he had an olive grove that he owned. After his retirement, he would visit and tend his land daily for as long as he had his sight.

Structured in three slow sections the music is slow and contemplative. The opening section quotes a passage from a piano piece Bela Bartok, while central section uses a traditional song from the Monti Lepini, “Tira vento”.