Name: Symphony No 8 'Jazz in the lockdown' 1st movement: It's no party by John Middleton
Duration: 12 min 54 s
Description: The material for this symphonic movement comes from a song for vocalist, saxophone and keyboard: 'Musical chairs for the end of an age', setting the words of Michele Witthaus. She is a Leicester poet who has written a collection of poems during the lockdown ("'From a Sheltered place', published by Wildpressed Books").

The material for this symphonic movement comes from a song for vocalist, saxophone and keyboard: 'Musical chairs for the end of an age', setting the words of Michele Witthaus. She is a Leicester poet who has written a collection of poems during the lockdown ("'From a Sheltered place', published by Wildpressed Books").

Symphony No 8 'Jazz in the lockdown' 1st movement: It's no party

Setting of a poem called 'A Private' by the WW1 poet, Edward Thomas who was killed near Arras in 1917.
The initial setting was for tenor voice and piano, but I took out the words and arranged it for string quartet.
Thomas was ambiguous about volunteering for the army. His poetry features the English landscape with people missing from it. I tried to capture the conflict of emotion. The cello provides a 'walking bass' that suggests the marching soldier. 'The Private' commemorates a ploughman, used to sleeping out of doors, who now sleeps in the soil in France.

Symphony No 8 'Jazz in the lockdown' 1st movement: It's no party

John Middleton

Related tracks