This is the 1st of a group of 5 playlists which in my view, represent the best of my work and for which I would most like to be remembered. Noche Oscura was first performed by Jane Manning with the Park Lane Group. The Cloud of Unknowing was a commission from The Fires of London and was premiered at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, conducted by Peter Maxwell Davies. The Magic Mountain was a commission from Charles Dobler, and the 1st performance was given by Stephen Pruslin with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Lionel Friend in St. John's Smith Square. The remaining playlists will be posted at roughly monthly intervals.

Legacy 1

This is the 2nd group of works to which I feel particularly close, and by which I would like to be remembered. For the Far Journey was commissioned by Gemini and is dedicated to my daughter, Caroline. Cantilever was commissioned for the Nash Ensemble by the King's Lynn Festival, and Elective Affinities was commissioned by the University of Hertfordshire for its Mayfest.

Legacy 2

This is the 3rd of the series of Playlists which include those works by which I would most like to be remembered. White Winter, Black Spring is a setting of texts by Robert Lowell for tenor, baritone and large ensemble. It was commissioned by the BBC for the Huddersfield Festival and first performed there by Martyn Hill, Henry Herford with the Lontano Ensemble conducted by Odaline de la Martinez. Faustus was another BBC commission for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales who premiered it under the baton of Jan Latham Koenig. Sinfonia was commissioned by the Sinfonia of Cambridge who performed it with the conductor Grant Llewellyn, but this BBC studio recording is by the City of London Sinfonia conducted by Richard Hickox.

Legacy 3

This is an amended version of Legacy 4, the final instalment of the dozen works by which I would like to be remembered. The Floating World was written as the major piece for my Doctoral submission to the University of Sussex and was first performed by Olivia Ray with the K.239 Chamber Orchestra conducted by Peter Britton. Disjunct Variations was given its first public performance by Adam Bowles in Montevallo, Alabama, and this studio recording was made by him shortly after. Double Concerto was premiered in its revised version by Marco Blaaw and Marcus Weiss, with the BBC SSO conducted by Geoffrey Paterson in the City Halls, Glasgow.

Legacy 4

The 5th instalment of the Legacy series contains works which are not published and with the exception of Corona di Sonetti are unlikely to be performed. The solo piano piece Corona di Sonett was commissioned by Clare Hammond who premiered a substantial sequence of the sections at the Aldeburgh Festival in 2022 (a film of this can be seen on Clare's YouTube channel at: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUdB4LgJkuE&list=LL&index=109
La Vita Nuova is a work in 9 movements based on Dante's early work that charts the course of his relationship with Beatrice from their first meeting up to her death. Russian Jerusalem is an opera in 3 Acts based on the book by Elaine Feinstein, exploring the repressive and often brutal relationship between the Soviet state and its artists and writers. Broken Forms is an orchestral piece which is dedicated to the memory of my parents.

Legacy 5

This is a new work for orchestra, dedicated to the memory of my parents: E.T.H. 1921 - 2010. It is performed by new NotePerformer software

Broken Forms

These are the final moments from Act III of the opera. The whole cast assembles on stage for this ensemble, and the closing words are:
'May the Lord in his long silence remember all of us.'

Russian Jerusalem Act III.conclusion

This is the first section of a piece for tenor and large ensemble, drawn from Dante's La Vita Nuova. In this passage, Dante recounts his first meeting with Beatrice and declares the beginning of a New Life.

I	i	Here begins the New Life.
	ii	Instrumental
	iii	The woman whom my mind beholds in glory first appeared before my eyes, called 
		Beatrice by many.
	iv	Instrumental
	v	From then on I say that Love ruled over my soul.

LA VITA NUOVA I

In this second section from La Vita Nuova, Dante describes Beatrice's greeting as the height of bliss, and thinking of her while falling asleep, he experiences a marvelous vision.

II	vi	Instrumental
vii	And passing in the street, she greeted me with such courtesy that it seemed to me to be the height of bliss.
viii	Instrumental
ix	And thinking of her, I fell asleep, and there appeared to me a marvellous vision.
x	Instrumental

LA VITA NUOVA II

In the 3rd section of La Vita Nuova, Dante sends a sonnet to his friends in which he describes a dream in which he had a vision of Love holding his beloved and feeding to her Dante's heart. He is disturbed by the dream and asks his friends for their interpretation of its meaning.

III	xi	To every captive soul and gentle lover
		Into whose sight this present rhyme may chance,
		That, writing back, each may expound its sense,
		Greetings in Love, who is their Lord, I offer.
		Already of those hours a third was over
		Wherein all stars display their radiance,
		When lo! Love stood before me in my trance:
		Recalling what he was fills me with horror.
		Joyful Love seemed to me and in his keeping
		He held my heart; and in his arms there lay
		My lady in a mantle wrapped, and sleeping.
		Then he awoke her and, her fear not heeding,
		My burning heart fed to her reverently.
		Then he departed from my vision, weeping.

LA VITA NUOVA III

This is a work for unaccompanied women's voices, setting 5 short texts by e.e. cummings, collectively entitled 'Impressions'. The whole piece is a kind of palindrome and I think it works well just as a vocalise.

Impressions

The second half of Corona di Sonetti, performed by Clare Hammond at Folkestone New Music, 23 February 2023. Sections 9 to 15 are: Mazurka, Etude, Ballade, Bagatelle, Winter Pastoral, Capriccio and Chorale.

Corona di Sonetti (9 - 15)

The first half of Corona di Sonetti, performed by Clare Hammond at Folkestone New Music on 23 February 2023. Sections 1 to 8 are: Prelude, Toccata, Ciaccona, Nocturne, Scherzo, Intermezzo, Fantasia and Elegy.

Corona di Sonetti (1 - 8)

Not my usual kind of thing, but these pieces for a modest ability saxophonist were written at a time when I was learning to play alto sax. The eight pieces are:
I Morning Song
II Chinese Rag
III Swiss Waltz
IV Elegy
V Igor's March
VI Berceuse
VII Sharp Scherzo
VIII Pas-de-deux

8 NEW PIECES FOR ALTO SAXOPHONE AND PIANO

This scene opens in the Ehrenburgs' flat in Moscow, early 1953. Ilya Ehrenburg is visited by two Party apparatchiks who ask him to sign a letter that demands all Jews be sent to Birobidzhan, 'for their own protection against the wrath of the Russian people'. He refuses to sign and the visitors depart, leaving Ehrenburg pondering on the many dreadful events he has witnessed in his life; the Germans razing Ukraine, the execution of Isaac Babel among others. Wondering what will happen next, dawn breaks on the morning of 5 March 1953 and the radio announces the death of Stalin. In a hopeful state of optimism, Ehrenburg begins to write a new novel, 'The Thaw'.

RUSSIAN JERUSALEM Act III Sc 1

In this concluding scene from Act II of Russian Jerusalem, Marina Tsvetaeva evokes in the Prologue the figure of the writer Isaac Babel. The main part of the scene deals with Babel's arrest, his imprisonment, torture and trial, and his eventual execution. He was accused wrongly of being a 'spy'. The scene ends with an orchestral postlude, a requiem for Isaac Babel.

RUSSIAN JERUSALEM Act II Sc 2

The third song from the cycle Watching the Perseids, a setting of a poem by Peter Scupham.

The flying light fixes to leaf and stem,
The moon is grazing every tender skin,
The hours grow small, and the night gathers them.

A scattered surface locks upon the pool,
And webs which steal across the dreaming eye
Bridge darkened life, cradle this golden fool.

Cold mariner, your fins tremble to stone,
Caught in a brief amber preservation.
Bright shiner, cloud into the morning sun.

The Pool

This is the 4th song from the cycle Watching the Perseids. The poem is by Peter Scupham, and is here:

At the kite's tail we tethered in the sky
A landscape hung, and wind, oracular,
Thrummed in the cord, keeping a weather eye
On what was far but near, and near but far.

A sibyl's voice, whose dark enchantments ran
Loose in the chequered birdsong of the shire,
Singing of youth and age, of boy and man,
Breaking the clay to green, the ash to fire.

I felt new powers, old principalities
Renew the contours of the land, and then
The spit not dry upon my purblind eyes
I saw men as trees walking, men as men.

THE VIEW FROM THE HILL

This is the 5th song in the cycle Watching the Perseids. The poem is by Peter Scupham, and it is here:

Our love is a dark lantern; your secrets keep
Under this driftwood tree, dark brick, stiff clay,
And all the foreground speaks of distances.
Caught in your indirection, we lose our way

To find you again, alone and undispersed,
Briefly at home in colour, line, the light 
Echoed by patched water. Then cloud and leaf
Turn in the loose wind, follow you out of sight.

Giles Scupham, 1962 - 2001

This is a new version of my choral piece 'The Task', setting a poem by George Mackay Brown. The words can now be heard, sung by the virtual choir, thanks to the very kind work done by Joe Haspel with his East/West Hollywood Choirs software. Written originally for Peter Maxwell Davies' 70th birthday, it is now dedicated to his memory. The photograph shows Max with George around the time of the first St. Magnus Festival in Orkney, 1977.

THE TASK (version with sung words)

This is the final song in the cycle Watching the Perseids, which I have orchestrated as a memorial for the poet Peter Scupham (1933 - 2022), whose wonderful words I have set in these songs. It catches up all the threads from the previous five songs and goes on to establish an elegaic mood of remembrance.

Watching the Perseids: Remembering the Dead

Setting of the poem Noche Oscura by St. John of the Cross, written about 1578. This is a corrected version of my 1976 piece, completed in March 2024 and performed through NotePerformer software.

NOCHE OSCURA

This work was commissioned by The Fires of London with funds from the Arts Council of Great Britain, and was first performed by them, conducted by Peter Maxwell Davies, on 31 January 1979 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. This new revised and corrected version was completed in 2024, and uses Sibelius software with NotePerformer sounds.

It was inspired by 3 Medieval books concerning religious experience: The Cloud of Unknowing; Revelations of Divine Love; Incendium Amoris.

THE CLOUD OF UNKNOWING (revised and corrected)

Tenor, Baritone and Chamber Ensemble
Martyn Hill (tenor), Henry Herford (baritone), Lontano Ensemble conducted by Odaline de la Martinez
text from poems by Robert Lowell

White Winter, Black Spring

piano piece
Adam Bowles, piano
recorded in Montevallo, Alabama, USA

Disjunct Variations

piano and orchestra
Stephen Pruslin (piano) 
Royal Philharmmonic Orchestra
conducted by Lionel Friend
St. John's Smith Square, London

The Magic Mountain I/3 Arrival

Magic Mountain II/3 Ocean of Time

Magic Mountain III/3 Thunderbolt

chamber ensemble
The Fires of London
conducted by Peter Maxwell Davies

The Cloud of Unknowning

chamber ensemble
Capricorn Ensemble
conducted by John Hopkins

Elective Affinities

soprano and chamber ensemble
Margaret Field, soprano
Gemini conducted by Peter Wiegold
text by St. John of the Cross

Noche Oscura

chamber orchestra
City of London Sinfonia
conducted by Richard Hickox

Sinfonia I/2

Sinfonia II/2

chamber orchestra
K.239 Chamber Orchestra
conducted by John Hopkins
West Rd Concert Hall, Cambridge

Concerto da Camera I/2

Concerto da Camera II/2

trumpet, saxophone and orchestra
John Wallace (trumpet) John Harle (saxophone)
City of London Sinfonia
conducted by Richard Hickox
St. Giles Cripplegate, London 

Double Concerto I/2

soprano and ensemble
Margaret Field (soprano)
Gemini
conducted by Peter Wiegold

For the Far Journey

orchestra
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
conducted by Jan Latham- Koenig

Faustus I/2

Faustus II/2

mezzo-soprano and orchestra
Olivia Ray (mezzo-soprano)
K.239 Chamber Orchestra
conducted by Peter Britton
West Rd Concert Hall, Cambridge
text: 17 haiku by various Japanese poets

The Floating World

chamber ensemble
Nash Ensemble
conducted by Lionel Friend

Cantilever

soprano, flute and viola
Olivia Robinson (soprano)
Nancy Ruffer (flute)
Morgan Goff (viola)
Text by Tu Fu

Three Chinese Lyrics III/3 Seventh Song

soprano and chamber ensemble
Olivia Robinson (soprano)
University Ensemble
conducted by Robin Browning
text by Anna Akhmatova

Akhmatova Songs I/3 Music

alto flute solo
Nancy Ruffer (alto flute)

The Golden Flower

orchestra
Bath University Orchestra
conducted by George Odam
Bath Abbey

Solstice (Bath Abbey performance)

chamber orchestra
Sinfonia of Cambridge
conducted by Grant Llewellyn
Corn Exchange, Cambridge UK

Sinfonia I/2 (1st performance)

Sinfonia II/2 (1st performance)

soprano, flute and viola
Joanna Songi (soprano)
CB3 Ensemble
Fitzwilliam College Auditorium
Cambridge UK

3 Chinese Lyrics (CB3 performance)

children's orchestra
Cambridge Holiday Orchestra
conducted by Adrian Dunn
West Rd Concert Hall
Cambridge UK

children's orchestra
Duxford Music Workshop
conducted by Greg Smith

Ra (Duxford performance)

viola and chamber orchestra
Richard Wilson (viola)
Cambridge Chamber Orchestra
conducted by Peter Britton
Emmanuel United Reform Church
Cambridge UK

Viola Concerto

Viola Concerto I/3 Canto

Double Concerto (revised version)
for trumpet, saxophone and orchestra

Marco Blaaw (trumpet), Marcus Weiss (saxophone)
BBC SSO conducted by Geoffrey Paterson

Double Concerto (revised version)

These SoundCloud posts contain most of my work, and the series of 5 Legacy playlists in the Spotlight are all those by which I would most like to be remembered. They begin with Noche Oscura, which I wrote in 1976, and end with Broken Forms from 2021 and the opera Russian Jerusalem, completed in 2022.
Details of all my compositions, and information about their publication, can be found at my publisher's address: Ricordi London (http://www.ricordi.com/en-US/Composers/H/Hopkins-John.aspx)

John Hopkins

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