"Elegy on Sudden Loss" was written in 2021, between 8 May and 14 June. It was recorded by over 60 string players from the OpenSoundOrchestra under Stanislav Malyshev.  This elegy is for all who have been unexpectedly taken, but unlike most other elegies, this work is very much for those left grappling with the devastatingly raw effects of their loved-ones being torn from the weaver’s loom, seemingly before their time.

Elegy on Sudden Loss

Elegy On Sudden Loss

Music: Andrew March
Text: Psalm 90 adapt. Sue Threakall
Performed: The First Readings Project
Conductor: J. David Moore
Recorded 25 September 2023 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Minneapolis, MN.

Order of Service: https://www.botolph.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Service-of-Thanksgiving-and-Remembrance-2023.pdf

Text adaptation from additional scripture sources:
Psalm 90: 2-5, 9, 17; Psalm 34: 15; Psalm 65: 5;
Psalm 126: 4; Jeremiah 31: 9; Ecclesiastes 12: 7.

TEXT:
O Lord, your eyes fall upon us 
and your ears are open to our cry.  
When we weep, you are near. 
When we stumble, you lead us back. 
You let us walk by the brooks of water 
You restore our fortunes as the river restores the desert.  
And the beauty of the Lord, our God, is upon us.
 
You are the hope of the ends of the earth 
And of the farthest seas. 
From everlasting to everlasting 
You are God! 
And the beauty of the Lord, our God, is upon us. 

A thousand years in your sight 
Are but as yesterday!  
We spend our years as a tale that is told
And like a watch in the night they pass away.  
And you carry us, as if in a dream, 
And we fade away like the tender grass.
 
As our days come to an end 
You turn us back to dust. 
We return to the earth like a sigh,
And our spirit returns to you.  
And the beauty of the Lord, our God, is upon us.

Words (Adaptation) © Copyright 2015 Sue Threakall

First Readings Project

Your Eyes Fall Upon Us

During the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown in the United Kingdom, I found myself unable to compose anything for some time. Trying desperately to avoid being the author of "compost" destined for a posthumous pile of decomposing false-starts, I eventually made a series of improvisations which were captured as audio recordings. 

It was the slow and moody 19th improvisation that engendered the contemplative saxophone solo, an unwilling return to the self, set in the amber of lockdown, against the pin-drop atmosphere of deserted evenings, with the sultry dissonance of jazz opening and contracting like the sash windows of its confined language.

The main composing was complete by June 2020. The piece was not easy to retrospectively notate due to the need to preserve the natural improvisatory feel. 

The resultant piece is dark but soulful and strives to be more than the original improvisation; the pitches themselves being carefully chosen and meant, allowing the alto sax to expansively lead the language.

The piece was later fine-tuned in close collaboration with the saxophonist from the Royal College of Music who made this recording.

The piece has a duration of approximately 9 minutes.

Programme note: Andrew March. September 2024

Solitude

A live recording of Andrew March's "How Long, O Lord?" for mixed A Cappella choir, with the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University Chamber Choir under conductor Axel Theimer at a concert in Minneapolis MN, on 11th March, 2018. This is believed to be the first known recording of this choral piece.

"How Long, O Lord?" is a setting of Psalm 13 in English, written in London between 15th and 20th April 2008 and was revised 17 May 2011.  It was first performed in June 2011 by the Choir of St. Mary's Bedfont, in the United Kingdom. In 2014, the piece was published in the USA by Colla Voce Music, LLC.

The Text was taken from a combination of Scripture sources: Psalm 13 of the Darby Bible (1890), the Webster’s Bible (1833), the Hebrew Names Version (the World English Bible, an update of the ASV 1901) and from the Revised Standard Version (1901) for the single use of the word “foes”.

The Text: Psalm 13:

     How long, O LORD, wilt thou forget me? O LORD, for ever?
     How long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
     How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart?
     How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?
     Behold and answer me, O God!
     Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;
     Lest mine enemy say, “I have prevailed against him!”
     Lest my foes be joyful when I fall.

     How long, O LORD, wilt thou forget me? O LORD, for ever?
     How long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
     As for me, I have confided in thy mercy;
     My heart shall be joyful in thy salvation.
     I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath been good to me.

How Long, O Lord?

Spring Break Tour 2018

Regina Caeli

Be still and know

Marian Antiphon No. 3

This is a somewhat rare recording of "Marine" from 1997. It was recorded for the semi-finalist stage of Masterprize by the BBC Philharmonic under Philip Ellis for the European Broadcasting Union and Radio 3.  The result is both wonderfully impressionist and incredibly sincere (despite adhering to my original tempi markings), yet this version never got a look-in. That was a real pity. This was due to the version by the LSO / Harding being so prevalent. The LSO version, with the somewhat slower, overly-sentimental interpretation, appeared on the EMI Debut Series which was released in 1998 and, very disappointingly, the LSO recording was the very same one which was given away for "free" on the cover-mount CD of the BBC Music Magazine in 1997 [MM67].  So the BBC "impressionist" version was completely lost and eclipsed by the LSO/ EMI recording - which was effectively released twice, but this was not made clear to anyone. (Not my fault!) There is also a third version of Marine on YouTube complete with video of Ashkenazy conducting the EUYO in 1998. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCDKK9y--F8&feature=youtu.be)

Programme Note: 
Marine - à travers les arbres was inspired by a trip to Moulin Huet Bay on Guernsey as well as two of Renoir's impressionist paintings of the same bay from the year 1883. Portions of these two titles, 'Baie du Moulin Huet à travers les arbres' and 'Marine à Guernsey', were combined to produce "Marine - à travers les arbres" which roughly translates as "Marine - through the trees".  This amazingly nautical interpretation is my personal favourite. It was also the first recording that I heard.

Marine - à travers les arbres (BBC Phil)

“The Night is for Stillness” for solo cello, was given its title after the second line of the New Zealand Night Prayer. This very special prayer was read out during my late Uncle’s funeral and I was particularly touched by it.   This piece is from a set, “Three Pieces for Solo Cello”, which I wrote in 2011 especially for cellist, Ovidiu Marinescu. This particular movement was written very much in memory of my Uncle.  The three pieces were professionally recorded in Philadelphia, USA, and in 2013, were released on an album called “Moto Perpetuo – Moving Works for Cello” with Parma Recordings on the Navona label.

Moto Perpetuo - Moving Works for Cello

The Night Is For Stillness

Nymphéas (1995), for mixed ensemble of 8, was inspired by Monet’s series paintings of water lilies. Harmonic saturation, through the movement in the piano and vibraphone is intended to suggest an aquatic environment. The structure takes on an arch-shape in which a melodic element is presented.

Nymphéas (RCM 20th Century Ensemble)

This is a temporary audio file for "Dragonfly" for flute, viola and harp. The piece is now published by ALEA Publishing and Recording, and the sheet music is be available at:  https://bassclarinet.ecwid.com/March-Dragonfly-p145925294  This audio track is a computer rendering intended only as a guide.

Dragonfly

"Amoration" started life as a piano solo which was composed in 2008 as part of a set of 14 pieces. Despite a struggle with the central section, and the encouragement of a friend who urged him to complete it, the final touches were eventually put to the score whilst sitting in a London café. Two fellow coffee drinkers were interested in what Andrew was doing, and asked to hear the piece. Surprisingly they both came to the conclusion that it needed the addition of strings, which was not something that he had previously considered. Indeed, it was not until late 2015 that Andrew revisited the idea of adding strings, and this too happened in a public place – a hospital! Unfortunately a bout of illness meant that he was forced to spend the night there, and, whilst sandwiched on either side by the hustle and bustle of doctors tending to fellow patients, Andrew fixed his eyes squarely on a point on the ceiling. Whilst doing so, a thought passed through his mind; that if he was to suffer this experience he needed his life to have greater meaning. In the seconds that followed he felt that he was being guided by something outside the terrestrial sphere, and suddenly he knew with clarity exactly what he had to do – the idea of adding strings suddenly felt like exactly the right path to take.
Work duly started on the string parts, and it was at this point that Andrew’s sister began to show a keen interest in the piece. Her help and support turned out to be invaluable: she offered help, she supported him when he occasionally become ‘snow-blind’ as a result of focusing too intently on the piece, and with her support, ‘Amoration’ was truly born.
As Andrew completed the score of the full version, he became instantly aware that he wanted to hear it, and to have the piece recorded professionally. He felt that it had an uplifting, hopeful nature, but with an underlying serene, yet pensive quality. Despite the fact that to some, it may sound somewhat cinematic, it is not intended to come across as a romantic epic, but rather as a story of complete and total purity and integrity. Programme Note by Sue Threakall.

Recorded by Macedonian Muzik & Entertainment (MME) in Studio M1 at Makedonska Radio Televizija (MRT), Skopje, on Sunday, 31st January, 2016, with the strings of the Macedonian Radio Symphony Orchetra with conductor, Oleg Kondratenko; concertmaster, Ana Kondratenko and pianist Marjia Vrskova.
(Sound Engineer: Georgi Hristovski; Pro Tools Engineer & Editing: Atanas Babaleski; Studio Manager: Laurent Koppitz; Orchestra Contracting: Aude Nassieu Maupas; Stage Manager: Evtim Ristov; Librarian: Riste Trajkovski.)  

The piano used for this recording was a Steinway model D.

Amoration

This version of Marine was recorded for EMI by the LSO under a rather young Daniel Harding. The recording was widely released and became entrenched as the the principle version, and only available recording. However, it is not the composer's favourite version, by no means. For some reason, much slower tempi were taken, and this rendered the piece overly sentimental and (in the composer's opinion) insincere.  It was a great pity, as the beautiful nautical world (as heard in the BBC Philharmonic version) is mostly lost.  Although this recording fixes some of the upper strings rather tricky 'divisi' figuration in the central animated section of the BBC Phil recording (where the texture becomes very thin and the energy is lost due to somewhat weak scoring), the overall effect heard in this predominant LSO recording is not one of the quick snapshot - impressionist wash that was intended.  
Programme Note:
Marine - à travers les arbres ('Marine - through the trees') is a collection of orchestral 'tone-pictures' inspired by the spectacular scenery of Moulin Huet Bay in Guernsey and two of Auguste Renoir's impressionist paintings of 1883; 'Baie du Moulin Huet à travers les arbres' and 'Marine à Guernsey'. This piece strives to take a 'quick-sketch' snapshot of Moulin Huet Bay viewed through the lens of Renoir's sketchy seascapes in which wild brush-strokes give a turbulent look to the green-blue waves. The centre of the piece is more abstract, with animated material that homes in on the aspect of the view through the trees. At the very end of the piece, the main body of sound fades revealing the harp; hued with vibraphone, the music returns to the nautical world in which it belongs.  
Marine won 1st Prize in the inaugural Masterprize International Composition Competition, held on 7th April, 1998 at Barbican Hall, London.

Masterprize

Marine - à travers les arbres

Marine - A Travers Les Arbres (LSO)

This symphonic poem won the Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize in 1996.  Easdale was first performed on Thursday 23rd January, 1997, by the Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra (RCMSO) under Edwin Roxburgh. 

Programme Note: 
One hundred years ago a violent storm struck the Scottish Island of Easdale, killing many inhabitants and causing chaos.  The productive slate quarries were flooded and the whole Island was put out of business.
The first movement of this work was based on my initial impressions of the Island's remoteness.  The crashing waves send white spray into the air, illuminated by the almost horizontal sunlight.  With their reverberating dissonant overtones, two suspended cymbals - one played with a violin bow, the other with brushes - reflect the sound of the waves on the sea-shore.  The strings utilize harmonics for their bright, white sound.  The harmony is often diatonic and indicative of the calm, iridescent sunlight effect.
Five separate passages, employing stark doublings in the woodwind and brass, portray a 'threat' to this tranquillity.  These 'interruptions' become progressively more menacing, darkening the mood for the arrival of the storm.
The second movement is the storm itself.  It works its way through the orchestra, beginning in the lowest registers.  The harp is used to create an atmosphere of suspense.  The first section peaks at a mid-point in the orchestra's range; it then restarts at a lower level but works up higher.  The compositional language reflects the wilder side of nature, making much use of chromaticism and serialism.
Large chords serve as 'pylons', marking a series of five climaxes which generally increase in size and weight.  The fourth of these, however, is more animated - suggesting crashing waves, gusting winds and blizzard-like weather - whilst the fifth climax is the peak of the storm; from there onwards the tension subsides and the storm leaves in much the same way as it began.
The first half of the third movement is an expressive passage reflecting on the grief and devastation.  The mood lightens somewhat with four radiant chorales which are placed in a high tessitura, with low sounds kept to a minimum.  These 'metallic' chorales serve to establish the focal point of the movement.
The final section is intended to be lighter and more beautiful.  Dispersed fragmentary solos are presented by the oboe, cello, viola, trumpet and horn and there is a notable absence of any broad themes.  The work ends with a spacious chord which slowly fades.  One of the soli is chosen to end the work, emerging just before the orchestral chord finally dies away.  The ascending nature of the thematic material of this solo is in keeping with the constant necessity for light and hope.

Easdale 3rd Movement (Storm Aftermath)

Elegy for String Orchestra - in memory of all haemophiliacs and others who have lost their lives due to contaminated blood and blood products.

Sanguis Venenatus originated from an elegy, the fifth piece in a cycle of 10 string quartets which I finished writing in 2009. The quartets are based on a theme inspired by birds of prey. 
During 2009, I watched four of my haemophiliac friends die of complications due to contaminated blood. In the United Kingdom, 4,670 adults and children were given blood or blood products which were tainted with deadly viruses. Over 2,000 have since died, and of these, 1,243 were infected with HIV. I am one of less than 300 surviving haemophiliacs in this group. Having been infected with HIV at the age of 9, I have lived all these years just trying to take each day as it comes finding the strength to stay optimistic through the gift of music. 
At some point I made a decision to adapt the string quartet into a piece for full string orchestra forces. I did this to increase the depth of the elegy.
The score bears the following inscription: “This work is dedicated to all the haemophiliacs and others who have lost their lives through contaminated blood and blood products.”
On Saturday 20th March, 2010, Sanguis Venenatus was premièred by the Todmorden Orchestra under their conductor (and RCM alumni) Nick Concannon Hodges. The premiere was followed by extremely positive review. The elegy then received a second performance during a service in
Westminster Abbey with the strings of the London Charity Orchestra under William Carslake on Wednesday 30th March, 2011. The service celebrated the 40th anniversary of the enactment of the UK’s Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act (1970); pioneering legislation introduced with great
effort and considerable endurance by the late Rt. Hon. The Lord Morris of Manchester, a long-time supporter and advocate of persons with haemophilia. The many provisions of this Act of Parliament have, amongst other things,
given support to the afflicted and bereaved family members of the stricken haemophilia community.
On 9th July, 2011, Sanguis Venenatus was professionally recorded by the strings of the Moravian Philharmonic under Petr Vronský at Reduta Hall, Olomouc, Czech Republic. Since the release of the CD, the elegy has been widely broadcast, both internationally and in the United Kingdom.
[Notes by the Composer]

Dimensions: Works for String Orchestra

Sanguis Venenatus

A Stirring in the Heavenlies (2000)
This is a through-composed piece in five tentative sections commissioned by the Worshipful Company of Musicians for their quincentenary in the year 2000. The piece is scored for full symphony orchestra, and was first performed (in an abridged form) by the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican at the end of the year 2000.  This performance was not recorded.  The work concerns itself with the innate desire of man to travel and explore terra firma as well as the great expanse of the sky and heavens.  The theme of transportation; intrinsic to the desire for an understanding of the plateaux of existence and levels of consciousness, is strongly portrayed in the opening of this piece. An extended build-up through the gathering of material inside a framework of a constant tempo gives the illusion of accelerando as achieved by rhythmic diminution of the underlying pulse material.   	
Whilst no particular programmatic sequence should be attributed to the work, it is reasonable to say that the orchestra has been used to evoke space and the fluxation of celestial bodies within space; dilations, contractions, sometimes fast and volatile, sometimes slow like nebula.  Cross-tessitura gestures in the orchestra contrast the various forms of movement suggested by an array of emotional and physical ‘stirring’ - both in the natural and the spiritual.   Orchestral contrary motion is utilised as the metamorphosis of time and space; where edges and boundaries are morphed and the transmutation of matter, solids, liquids, enable the prerequisite disembodiment for transcendence to behold the true phenomenon of an ethereal firmament. At the heart of the piece, like a dead star, as though in a time-capsule, there is an episode recalling the distant echo of the early days of planetary speculation.

About this Recording:
"A Stirring in the Heavenlies" was recorded in its full form in the Ukraine in 2005 by ERM Media label for Volume 7 of their Cd-series: "Masterworks of the New Era". The orchestra was the Kiev Philharmonic with the late award-winning composer/conductor Robert Ian Winstin.  Volume 7, was released on 28th November 2005.

Masterworks of the New Era Vol 7

A Stirring in the Heavenlies

This is an audio file for the recently published "Nymphéas for Two Pianos" (2001). There are two audio versions: this one is lighter and more atmospheric.

"Nymphéas for Two Pianos" is published by Da Vinci Edition (ISMN: 9-790-2162-0019-6):  
www.davinci-edition.com/product/dv-11500/

Programme Note: 
This short piece was inspired by Monet's series paintings of water lilies. Themovement in the semiquaver septuplets creates harmonic saturation and is intended to suggest an aquatic environment. The structure, punctuated by periodic changes in the bass, takes on an arch-shape, where a melodic element is presented.  The composition of "Nymphéas" dates back to 1995 with the original scoring for a mixed ensemble of eight players: Clarinet, Alto Saxophone, Trumpet, French Horn, Vibraphone, Piano, Viola and Double Bass. The original version for ensemble was adapted in 2001 for two pianos, and further revised in 2019.

Nympheas For Two Pianos (Vers 2)

This is another audio file for the recently published "Nymphéas for Two Pianos" (2001). There are two audio versions: this one is heavier in tone and more saturated in texture. It is less atmospheric, but has more grit and energy to the playing.  (There's also some background hiss and the odd click, unfortunately.)

"Nymphéas for Two Pianos" is published by Da Vinci Edition (ISMN: 9-790-2162-0019-6): 
www.davinci-edition.com/product/dv-11500/

Programme Note:
This short piece was inspired by Monet's series paintings of water lilies. Themovement in the semiquaver septuplets creates harmonic saturation and is intended to suggest an aquatic environment. The structure, punctuated by periodic changes in the bass, takes on an arch-shape, where a melodic element is presented. The composition of "Nymphéas" dates back to 1995 with the original scoring for a mixed ensemble of eight players: Clarinet, Alto Saxophone, Trumpet, French Horn, Vibraphone, Piano, Viola and Double Bass. The original version for ensemble was adapted in 2001 for two pianos, and further revised in 2019.

Nympheas for Two Pianos

Nympheas For Two Pianos (Vers 1)

Andrew March was the winner of the first Masterprize International Composing Competition in 1998 with his orchestral piece Marine - à travers les arbres. He was born in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, in November 1973. In 1992 he was accepted at the Royal College of Music to study composition with Jeremy Dale Roberts, graduating in 1996.

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