Robert Peate
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    • All Chamber Ensemble Choral Large Ensemble Solo
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      Morlich Meditation

      April 28, 2021

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      Sylva Suite

      August 1, 2019

      Choral

      Book of Rounds

      May 26, 2019

      Choral

      …Luciferum…

      April 24, 2019

      Chamber Ensemble

      Stone Study no.2 – Cave and Cliff

      March 20, 2018

      Chamber Ensemble

      Shadow Play

      January 26, 2018

      Chamber Ensemble

      Five Winter Tableaux

      January 26, 2018

      Chamber Ensemble

      Three Idylls

      January 26, 2018

      Choral

      Book of Rounds

      May 26, 2019

      Choral

      …Luciferum…

      April 24, 2019

      Choral

      Garden Days

      January 27, 2018

      Choral

      Snail Litany

      January 27, 2018

      Large Ensemble

      Viderunt Omnes

      January 26, 2018

      Large Ensemble

      Lullay

      January 26, 2018

      Large Ensemble

      Sinfonia Concertante

      January 26, 2018

      Large Ensemble

      Juno in August

      January 26, 2018

      Solo

      Morlich Meditation

      April 28, 2021

      Solo

      Sylva Suite

      August 1, 2019

      Solo

      Under the Rowan Tree

      March 19, 2018

      Solo

      Pearl III

      January 27, 2018

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Robert Peate

COMPOSER

  • About
  • Works
    • All Chamber Ensemble Choral Large Ensemble Solo
      Solo

      Morlich Meditation

      April 28, 2021

      Solo

      Sylva Suite

      August 1, 2019

      Choral

      Book of Rounds

      May 26, 2019

      Choral

      …Luciferum…

      April 24, 2019

      Chamber Ensemble

      Stone Study no.2 – Cave and Cliff

      March 20, 2018

      Chamber Ensemble

      Shadow Play

      January 26, 2018

      Chamber Ensemble

      Five Winter Tableaux

      January 26, 2018

      Chamber Ensemble

      Three Idylls

      January 26, 2018

      Choral

      Book of Rounds

      May 26, 2019

      Choral

      …Luciferum…

      April 24, 2019

      Choral

      Garden Days

      January 27, 2018

      Choral

      Snail Litany

      January 27, 2018

      Large Ensemble

      Viderunt Omnes

      January 26, 2018

      Large Ensemble

      Lullay

      January 26, 2018

      Large Ensemble

      Sinfonia Concertante

      January 26, 2018

      Large Ensemble

      Juno in August

      January 26, 2018

      Solo

      Morlich Meditation

      April 28, 2021

      Solo

      Sylva Suite

      August 1, 2019

      Solo

      Under the Rowan Tree

      March 19, 2018

      Solo

      Pearl III

      January 27, 2018

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The Unknown Bird

(2010) – Ob/Cor A, Hrn, CBsn, Hrp, Vln, Vc

http://robertpeate.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/The-Unknown-Bird-excerpt-R-Peate-online-audio-converter.com_.mp3

This piece is a response to the poem of the same name by Edward Thomas. After I had made a number of unsuccessful attempts to set the poem vocally, I eventually settled on the idea of writing a purely instrumental response to the text.
In the poem Thomas describes the memory of a distant and unfamiliar three-note birdcall, which grows to represent a combination of characteristically subtle and personal themes, least of all a sense of hindsight mixed with self-doubt, famously captured in Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken.

Harmonic and melodic material derives strictly from the three notes: C, D-sharp and E, where the form and overall mood of the piece is very much guided by the poem. After a workshop performance with BCMG in 2009 at Birmingham Conservatoire conducted by Edwin Roxburgh, I made a number of revisions and completed the final version the following year.
This extract from the poem serves well to describing the general character of the music:

… Sad more than joyful it was, if I must say
That it was one or other, but if sad
‘Twas sad only with joy too, too far off
For me to taste it …

The Unknown Bird was first performed by students from The Royal Academy of Music, in the David Josefovitz Recital Hall at the RAM, November 2011, conducted by the composer.

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