Thames rolls on

I am hard at work revising 'Thames' for a possible performance in the States this summer. This guy has said he would like to programme it with other river-inspired pieces: Smetana's 'Vltava' and Schumann's 'Rhenish' Symphony. In any case, the score needs tidying and improving. I am a bit stuck in the eddies and cross-currents around Westminster Bridge, but hope to reach the sea ( or should I say the ocean?) in a week or so.

Someone in Tennessee wanted to play 'For the Fallen' on Veteran's Day in November, but I sadly had to decline the request to transcribe it as a string quartet.

'Trafalgar 1805' is being used as the incidental music for a student production of the Oresteia at Boston Unversity.

Foot-soldiers of spring

There is something touching about the first flowers of spring.

Snowdrops in a corner by the wall, pushing through ivy and dead leaves. Wild violets in the bank by the road, their deep secret perfume inspiring devotion. Primroses everywhere, never too many. Crocuses, shiny toy soldiers in paintbox uniforms. Grave Lenten Roses in their sepia dresses.

On Friday I worked all day in the garden. There was a hint of that balmy softness that is so much a part of an English spring.
For a few moments, a lark sang high above. You could almost smell the sap rising.

Even the weeds looked fresh and new.