Tronie

George Nicholson 's ten minute 2013 piece Tronie , arranged for solo Piano. This solo Piano piece was written in 2013. It is a response to Rembrandt's astonishing portrait of his mother painted when he was in his early twenties and at a time when she would have been about sixty and therefore described as an 'old woman'. It may have been intended rather as a generic depiction of the ravages of old age – a 'tronie' or genre painting – but it strikes me as being a very moving and vividly characterised study of a real living individual, a penetratingly honest and unflinching portrayal at that. In Tronie I have attempted to make a musical statement about old age – not only thefrailty, the loss of powers and the resignation, but also the pride and defiance of the old. The piece is dedicated to the memory of my mother-in-law, Andy Ginsborg, who died in February 2013. - George Nicholson