The recorder is one of those instruments whose character and timbre are instantly able to evoke other eras. From the Middle-Ages through to today, it appears, rather like Virginia Woolf's mysterious time-traveller, Orlando, dressed in the costume and manner of the day but always retaining its bright and pithy character.
A peal of distant church-bells, technically known as change-ringing, also has a great power to suggest the passing of centuries and, with a little imagination, these changes of pattern may be felt as signalling shifts in time. In this short piece, the instruments take turns representing the bells (as a sort of ground bass) and the 'time-traveller'.
Evening is yet another time when we experience a shift in feeling and imagination, so the 'changes' of the title represent both the literal pealing of bells and a more figurative sense of transformation.
Evening Changes was written In Memoriam John McCabe and is dedicated to John Turner.
Click a score sample below to view a larger version of the score...
Opening
World Premiere: Evening Changes
Friday 7th October 2016, 4pm
William Alwyn Festival: works in memory of John McCabe.
John Turner, recorder | Linda Merrick, clarinet | Sarah-Jane Bradley, viola | Holy Trinity Church, Blythburgh |
More details and booking
Works: Evening Changes
