ORCHESTRAL (instrumental)
THE MOON, THE MOON!
Instrumentation:
Orchestra (3,3,3,3 - 4,3,3,1 - 2perc., celeste, harp - strings)
Duration:
5'30''
First Performance:
18 December 2007 London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Michael Francis, Barbican Hall, London
8 June 2007 (workshop) London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by François Xavier Roth, LSO St. Luke's.
This work was commissioned by the LSO in partnership with UBS as part of the Sound Adventures scheme..
Score and parts here.
Programme note:
The Moon, the moon!
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon!
They danced by the light of the moon.
(E. Lear)I wanted to write something that felt like an overture – fun, energetic, and excited – that explores essentially the same material in a variety of different guises. After a short introduction, there is a dance, featuring lots of violin harmonics, alternating with gruff staccato figures in the brass. There follows a set of variations on a ground bass, over which two high oboes call. A climactic tutti suddenly reveals an ornately decorated song, beginning in the flutes and then spreading through the strings. The register expands out from the flute trio until the opening sonority is regained and the piece gently ends.
