COMPOSER’S NOTE

Written whilst I was Composer in Residence at Charterhouse School, this is a setting of a poem from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.

COMPOSER’S NOTE

In 2011, I was commissioned by Decca Records to produce new orchestral arrangements of several British folk songs for soprano Laura Wright and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for the Number One selling album, The Last Rose.  Down By The Salley Gardens is based on the beautiful poem by W.B. Yeats (1865-1939).

COMPOSER’S NOTE

In 2011, I was commissioned by Decca Records to produce new orchestral arrangements of several British folk songs for soprano Laura Wright and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for the Number One selling album, The Last Rose.  Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes is the second work in the collection and is based on the beautiful poem by Ben Jonson (1572-1637).

COMPOSER’S NOTE

In 2011, I was commissioned by Decca Records to produce new orchestral arrangements of several British folk songs for soprano Laura Wright and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for the Number One selling album, The Last Rose.  Early One Morning is the eighth work on the collection and is based on the words of a beautiful anonymous folk song.

COMPOSER’S NOTE

Echo is the eighth piece from the song-cycle The Call written in Autumn 1997 in the aftermath of the death of Princess Diana and the collection uses poems which seemed to echo the public’s need for answers to eternal questions.  This piece for soprano and piano is a setting of the beautiful poem by Christina Rossetti describing the sadness and deep pain of the poet for a deceased lover.

COMPOSER’S NOTE

The piano depicts the gentle flowing of the fountain which the poet, Ben Johnson (1572-1637), sees as a mirroring of grief and sorrow.  The solo soprano voice conveys the deeper nuances of the text with broken, ‘sighing’ phrases and, at points of climax, with more expansive sweeping statements.

COMPOSER’S NOTE

In 2009, I was asked to write a new work for a special concert at the Cadogan Hall, London in 2009 to celebrate the valuable work of the St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital.

First established in Jerusalem in 1882, the St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital Group is now the only charitable provider of crucial eye care in Palestinian territory and provides treatment to all regardless of ethnicity or religion.

The work, with beautiful words by my brother Andrew, speaks of the different forms of love and peace flourishing when we see each other eye to eye.

COMPOSER’S NOTE

I was commissioned to write this anthem for tenor soloist, choir and orchestra as the English team’s anthem for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup.  The words by my brother Andrew and the stirring melody combine to create a patriotic piece designed to inspire the English team and their supporters.  The main idea was to encapsulate the “traditions and heartlands of rugby league in this country as well as evoking the heroism and commitment of international teams competing on the world sporting stage”.

Written for tenor Jonathan Ansell, the piece premiered at rugby league’s Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium on Saturday, 30 August 2008 and went on to be performed live before England’s World Cup matches in Australia.

COMPOSER’S NOTE

The text by Guarini was originally set by Monteverdi in his Eighth Book of Madrigals (1638) and reflects my love of the Baroque.  Like so many madrigals, this one deals with the pain of unrequited love; the suffering lover compares his plight with that of the nightingale whose love song seems irresistible.  ‘Song is no use to me,’ he complains ‘and I have no wings like you with which to fly…if Nature denied you understanding, she gave you joy to make up for it.’

Italian Song appeared on my debut album Blue in Blue.

COMPOSER’S NOTE

In 2011, I was commissioned by Decca Records to produce new orchestral arrangements of several British folk songs for soprano Laura Wright and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for the Number One selling album, The Last Rose.  Lavender’s Blue is the penultimate song in the collection and is based on a beautiful anonymous folk song.