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Programme Note

In the autumn of 1991, I was approached by the oboist Nicholas Daniel to write a short memorial piece for a BBC invitation concert commemorating the life and work of Janet Craxton.

For this composition, I extracted a few bars from "Der Abschied" (the final movement of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde) and subjected them to a gentle transformation from modality to gradual chromatic saturation. The piece was for English Horn and piano.

In the new version for Walter Trumpter (a colleague and dear friend of twenty-two years standing!) the solo part was given an almost constant two voice "polyphonic" context and the magical piano accompaniment developed and instrumented for an ensemble of flute, two clarinets in A, and harp.