Inventions in Solitude

Jeremy Arden’s three Inventions — ‘Ahava’, ‘Pavane’ and ‘Farewell’ — were written in response to the 2020 pandemic. Locked down at home with no work but wishing to make music, he decided to create pieces he could play alone. The Hebrew word Ahava means ‘abounding love’ but also refers to an ancient Jewish mode, a scale used in a whole range of music, from the song of the cantor to klezmer and jazz. The second piece celebrates the marvellously named Boddhisatva Wonder Sound, who appears in the Buddhist Lotus Sutra to remind us that all human beings, whatever their social status, have a Buddha nature. The final piece is dedicated to Jeremy’s good friend the composer Dimitri Smirnov, who was among those carried off by the Covid virus.