Star trumpeter Imogen Whitehead will premiere Twilight it is for Flugelhorn and Piano (with Richard Errington on piano) at The Bishop’s Palace, Hereford Cathedral, on 12th October, 7:30, in a concert presented by the Herefordshire Composers’ Workshop.
Twilight it is is a lullaby written to celebrate the birth of my niece, Rosaline.
The music is built (almost exclusively) from the melodic rocking of a 3rd so typical of lullabies. The piano moves through a series of chords derived from this intervallic swaying, whilst the flugelhorn begins to branch off, painting quietly expressive lines through the piano’s harmonies. There is also an attempt in the music to capture the sense of light, colour, peace, and reflection that twilight can bring.
The title is taken from a poem by John Masefield:
Twilight it is, and the far woods are dim, and the rooks cry and call.
Down in the valley the lamps, and the mist, and a star over all,
There by the rick, where they thresh, is the drone at an end,
Twilight it is, and I travel the road with my friend.
I think of the friends who are dead, who were dear long ago in the past,
Beautiful friends who are dead, though I know that death cannot last ;
Friends with the beautiful eyes that the dust has defiled.
Beautiful souls who were gentle when I was a child.
Imogen will also be performing my Fanfare for the Common Shed, which was written for local friend and retired trumpeter Simon Ferguson.
The music is made from the four pitches of the word SHED (Eb – B – E – D) and makes reference to the Monty Python sketch about Arthur ‘Two Sheds’ Jackson (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLjS3gzHetA), and to the fact that I had bought a second shed at the time!
Preview/buy the scores of both pieces here:
Twilight it is
Fanfare for the Common Shed
Visit Imogen’s Website here