Plea for Concordance

Plea for Concordance was written in 2011 for Polina Burdukova. It is for two cellos and piano and is in three movements, lasting just over 11 minutes.

This work was inspired by the current events in Northern African and Middle Eastern countries which, for various political reasons, are experiencing disunity and unrest. The first movement is called Family Concordance and expresses the notion that 'charity begins at home'. It has two thematic ideas; the first representing those squabbles and fights that often happen within families and the second is a 'reconciliation theme' that is used to restore peace and harmony within the family unit.

The second movement is called National Reconciliation and represents the unrest that divides individual countries. The main thematic material is very intense and emotional as it represents how disturbing it is that any country can be divided, and the movement ends with a variant of the 'reconciliation theme' heard in the first movement, again used to restore peace and harmony, this time to any country in turmoil.

The last movement is called Global Fellowship and expresses the need to go one step further, this being to create concordance between all the countries of the world. This movement is fast and joyful in character and integrates the 'reconciliation theme' heard in the previous two movements, expressing the vision of how wonderful it would be if all the countries of the world could live in peace and harmony. The movement ends in a highly jubilant and optimistic manner.

The whole piece is prefaced by a quote by the Persian Mystic 'Abdu'l-Bahá Abbás:

O God! Dispel all those elements which are the cause of discord, and prepare for us all those things which are the cause of unity and accord!