Programme Note
The Festival Overture was written in 1965 in response to a commission from the City of Glasgow on the occasion of the Commonwealth Arts Festival.
The work is festive in the sense of being light-hearted and gay: before settling down to the fast, main tempo (almost a moto perpetuo), a slow introduction presents several contrasting motifs. Most of these return later in various guises and build up in a whirl of sound to the final cadence.
Festival Overture is dedicated to Alexander Gibson, who conducted the first performance with the Scottish National Orchestra on the 18th September 1965.
Thea Musgrave