A new work, commissioned by the English Schools’ Orchestra and funded by PRS for Music, was premiered at a concert in London in November.
Remember, for baritone solo, children’s choir and orchestra, will be performed by the English Schools’ Orchestra, with Timothy Nelson (baritone) and the Southend Children’s Choir (Director Roger Humphrey, conducted by Robert Pepper.
This new work was commissioned to commemorate the centenary of the First World War, as well as the centenary of the Performing Rights Society, and the twentieth anniversary of the ESO. The premiere will take place in a concert at Cadogan Hall, London, on Sunday 2nd November (3pm), which will also include Elgar’s 1st Symphony, The Lark Ascending by Vaughan Williams (solo violin: Magnus Johnston) and George Butterworth’s A Shropshire Lad.
Edward Gregson’s work sets three stanzas from the famous Laurence Binyon poem “For the Fallen”, with intervening orchestral interludes acting as a dramatic counterpoint to the text. The work ends with a setting for children’s choir of the Benedictus from the Latin Mass, bringing the work to a poignant conclusion as the baritone solo voice repeats the eternal line, ‘We will remember them’. The composer has dedicated his work ‘to all the victims of war’, thus embracing a more universal message about the tragedy of all wars. The work lasts some 15 minutes.