For solo guitar

LISTEN

In January 1994 I had been considering the possibility of using elements from popular music in the same way that earlier composers had used folk music. I wasn’t sure it was possible because the gulf between my musical language, which at the time was primarily serial, and that of rock or pop music was daunting. However, I found that one very well-known riff (from Deep Purple’s Smoke on the Water) could be treated in a more or less serial way, hence the piece and its title. - Michael Calvert

This work has been recorded by Matthew Marshall on the album Rhapsody on a Riff (Ravello Records RR7907)