New Horizons - Concerto for Trumpet and Chamber Orchestra (2022)
Dedicated to John Wallace CBE with the hugest gratitude and admiration and warmest affection
Bede Williams (solo Trumpet [Trumpet in C, Piccolo Trumpet & Flugelhorn])
St Andrews Chamber Orchestra
Michael Downes (conductor)
Recording of World Premiere, 12 March 2025, Laidlaw Music Centre, University of St Andrews, Scotland
Recording made by Fife College
Film of complete concert available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uCzykyfmH4&t=7s

I was about to move country, to new horizons, and this work grew out of a shorter earlier work as a result. The short piece I wrote for Alison Balsom and the London Chamber Orchestra in celebration of the LCO’s 100th birthday had much further to go. It does so in this concerto. Cast in a single movement but in an almost symmetrical form of seven sections, complete with a cadenza, the work was composed between England and Italy, as I was travelling backwards and forwards from country to country. It strikes a new path in its style, and is, dare I say it, more ‘open’ in its musical language. I have no doubt that the openness of the Italian people and the landscape I knew I would be moving to had an impact on the music’s overall impression. And, of course, being a trumpeter, I wanted to write a solo concerto that responded to the instrument I know most of all, and reflect many of the works and styles I have worked with as a trumpeter. The soloist plays three different trumpets, a standard trumpet in Bb or C, a piccolo trumpet and flugelhorn, which has the most mellow and beguiling of sonorities. 
This work and this performance are dedicated to John Wallace, who was mentor and guide to Bede Williams and to me, and who has done so much to improve the lives of so many through his immense gifts and incredible generosity of spirit. 
© Paul Max Edlin 2025

New Horizons (2022) - live premiere

Allegretto-Adagio in C for Orchestra, no. 77

No relation to the Taylor Swift song.

Last year I fell in love with someone who'd been a good friend (or so I thought) up to that point. This turned out to be a mistake and ultimately a bitter experience. It's rare for me to write music "about" anything in particular, but this composition was written around the time that everything happened with this person and is very linked to the emotions I was going through at the time. 

Movement 1 was written when I was in the thick of feeling head over heels for this person, though even then there was some frantic agitation I was feeling (a sign of things to come). PSA, love shouldn't feel like that as it turns out?

"Love Story"  Piano Quintet - Movement 1

First movement of a piano trio of short movements. Hope you enjoy!

Trio in A Major - Movement 1

It is a polyphonic song composed as an elegy, lament, or mourning song for friends who have recently passed away.

 Below is a detailed explanation of the work in three languages:

Explanation in English:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wAm8l7SfAR4KnIazIQnO0Qo-mJubp7Cd/view?usp=sharing

Explicación en castellano:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IDckYDZfVcle5LCI_MMH3U90U5DAG7qa/view?usp=sharing

Explicació en català.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/13I4_Jx1k0lBJRXdamI278gV8OAHdY1bK/view?usp=sharing

Com la cérvola deleix l’aigua

Elegy For My Mother (2025)

A short piece for string orchestra in memory of my mother, who passed away in April 2024 aged 83.

When I was about 3, before I was old enough to have piano lessons, my mother would sit me on her knee while she played J. S. Bach's Minuet in G (BWV Anh. 114 - now attributed to Christian Petzold). She would pause allowing me to play to repeated 'G's each time. It is my earliest memory of playing the piano. 

It would be lovely for this to have a live performance.
Score and parts available. Please contact me for details.

Elegy For My Mother

This piece steals its opening phrase and title from the first piece I ever remember trying to compose when I was about 14.  I hope you enjoy and as always, thank you for listening.

It Isn't Easy

Realized using Notion and Studio One featuring VSL Dimension Strings and Aaron Venture Winds and Brass.

25-12 - Grainger a. Lane - Sussex Mummers' Carol

As of today, it's been exactly ten years since I first started a co-writing partnership with my friend Liam, and today we finished our latest composition. The composition is named in honor of the free software Finale Notepad, which Liam and I used to use for all of our co-writing. Finale's being phased out, perhaps due to the popularity of Musescore. We wrote this one in Finale, like in the old days, as a farewell to the software we got started with.

Written by exchanging a file by email, with each of us writing eight measures at a time. Hope you enjoy!

Liam's profile: https://soundcloud.com/liam-hynes-tawa

Archive of our prior compositions: https://soundcloud.com/liamhynestawawalkingears

Finale

Aquesta nadala és la més universal.
Malgrat la pessimista situació del món actual,
que els valors del Nadal,
com l’amor, l’altruisme, la solidaritat i la pau,
ens donin esperança de que 
els principis de l’humanisme racionalista
vagin predominant per aconseguir 
un mon cada vegada mes just. 

Tingueu tots unes festes felices i plenes d’esperança!

(NB: Tant la música com la lletra les he creades "manualment" sense IA. La interpretació tant de les veus com dels instruments són fetes amb programari d’ordinador.)





In English:

Christmas, Hope, and Humanism
=========================
“Silent night, holy night
All is calm and all is bright
Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child
. . .
. . . “

This Christmas carol is the most universal.

Despite the current pessimistic state of the world,
may the values of Christmas,
such as love, altruism, solidarity, and peace,
give us hope that
the principles of rationalist humanism
will gradually prevail, leading to
an increasingly just world.

May you all have a happy and hopeful holiday season!

(NB: I created both the music and lyrics "manually", without AI. The vocals and instruments were performed using computer software.)


En Castellano:

Navidad, esperanza y humanismo
=========================
“Noche de paz, 
noche de amor, 
todo duerme alrededor,
. . .
. . .”

Este villancico es el más universal.
Pese a la pesimista situación del mundo actual,
que los valores de la Navidad,
como el amor, el altruismo, la solidaridad y la paz,
nos den esperanza de que
los principios del humanismo racionalista
vayan predominando para conseguir
un mundo cada vez más justo.

¡Que tengáis todos unas fiestas felices y llenas de esperanza!

(NB: Tanto la música como la letra las he creado "manualmente" sin IA. La interpretación tanto de las voces como de los instrumentos están hechas con software de ordenador.)

Nadal, esperança i humanisme

Sieglinde Größinger, Flauto Traverso
Recording and Mixing: Frank Wendtner, Osta Musiklabor

J.S. Bach: Partita in A-minor for Flute alone, BWV 1013 - 4. Bourrée Anglaise

Sieglinde Größinger

Related tracks