Three Matisse Impressions (flute and piano version)

Three Matisse Impressions, in its original version for recorder and piano, was completed in 1993, and is dedicated to Alix Denzler, two of whose paintings were given to the composer and his wife. The work was composed as a small reciprocal gesture for these paintings (the artist is an enthusiastic recorder player). It is no coincidence that the title of the pieces refers to three well-known paintings by Matisse, an artist for whom the composer and the dedicatee share mutual admiration. The work is in three movements:

Pastoral – Lux, Calme et Volupté – La Danse.

In 1997, the …

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Benedictus (arr. alto saxophone and string quartet)

Benedictus was originally composed as a movement in the ‘Missa Brevis Pacem’ of 1988, where it was sung by a boy soprano, accompanied by a wind ensemble. This new version was made specially for a recording by Rob Buckland (saxophone) and the Navarra Quartet, as one track on a new CD of Edward Gregson’s Chamber Music, to be released on the Naxos label in May, 2022.…

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Oboe Concerto (A Vision in a Dream)

 

My Oboe Concerto is based on Coleridge’s famous poem Kubla Khan, completed in 1797 and published in 1816. The sub-title of the poem, ‘A Vision in a Dream’, gives the concerto its subtitle. The poem itself opens with the line: In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure-dome decree, and as the music progresses, following the main narrative of the poem, the score of the concerto quotes further stanzas, with the oboe soloist acting as both narrator and character portrayer. The work is scored for a modestly sized orchestra, with the addition of harp and solo percussion and lasts

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Love Goddess

Dorothy Bradford’s painting Goddess is unusual in the artist’s output in its subject matter. In shades of blue and grey, on a large canvas, it depicts a reclining female figure – sensuous, beguiling and pre-occupied. Her gaze out to camera, as it were, summons up a set of contrasting moods. I was drawn to this painting when considering which one to choose as the basis for the music.

The viola seemed to be the perfect instrument to portray the Goddess, with its opening three note chromatic figure being a kind of leitmotif, around which is weaved a variety of musical …

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