Edward Gregson: Edward Gregson: Welcome: SSA: Vocal Score

Full Score-The Horn Concerto was written in 1971 and was the first of the ten concertos Gregson has composed to date. It is dedicated to the English horn player Ifor James who died in 2004 and was originally written for brass band. However in 2013 Gregson was asked by Paul Klein Principal Horn of the Ulster Orchestra and BBC Northern Ireland to undertake an orchestral version for him.  Gregson decided to score the concerto for a late Haydn sized orchestra with the addition of a percussionist to add some colour to the texture. The concerto takes as its starting point the Mozartian model namely a sonata form opening movement a song-like slow movement and a jaunty rondo finale. The opening movement opens with a strident motif built on rising fourths announced by the soloist and answered by the orchestra. This pattern of ‘question/answer’ continues until a climactic moment breaks the tension and is followed by a lyrical second subject announced by the soloist over undulating rhythmic patterns on strings. The music is developed and recapitulated from these ideas with the lyrical idea returning via solo clarinet with horn answering in canon. The movement ends with the strident fourths this time in inversion. The slow movement is in tertiary form and opens with an expansive melody from the soloist over a repetitive harmonic and melodic pattern. This is expanded and developed building all the while in intensity until it is interrupted by cadenza-like passages on the horn and muted brass. After a brief climax the music subsides into a moment of emotional serenity before the opening melody returns this time on solo oboe with the horn interweaving its own answering melodic lines. The rondo finale is more light-hearted in mood with a catchy 6/8 tune at its heart. It is twice interrupted first by an idea built on long held chromatic notes from the soloist against a highly rhythmic backdrop (wind brass and snare drum) then by a slower more thoughtful melodic idea. However

The original version of this setting of the well-known traditional English folk song was completed in 1974 and was commissioned by Rachel McMillan College of Education (where Gregson was a lecturer at the time) for its Music Department Choir (female voices). It then had the somewhat unusual instrumentation of spinet flute and string quartet. In 2017 Gregson was asked to revise it for performance and publication in a new version for upper voices and piano. Arranged for SATB with Piano accompaniment.

Edward Gregson completed Tributes in the summer of 2010. Lasting some 16 minutes there are five pieces in the set each dedicated to a different composer and a different clarinettist (with whom Gregson had long musical associations). Each of the dedicatee composers wrote wonderfully for the Clarinet and as a tribute to them Gregson tried to invade indeed imitate their stylistic worlds in these pieces.They are as follows:To Francis Poulenc (for Emma Johnson) a rather dreamy toccata lyrical in feel but interrupted by typically quirky and disruptive rhythmic episodes.To Gerald Finzi (forJohn Bradbury) slow and lyrical with long melodic arches.To Igor Stravinsky (for Linda Merrick) asymmetric rhythms dominate with wide leaps in the solo line and bitonal harmony on the Piano.To Olivier Messiaen (for Nicholas Cox) based on the ravishing slow movement for Cello in his Quartet for the End of Time a seamless melody is woven around ever-changing repeated chords on the Piano.To Béla Bartók (for Michael Collins) the most virtuoso of the set; after a slow introduction a swirling folk-like dance unfolds mirroring Bartok?s penchant for simple modal shapes and ostinati rhythms.

Edward Gregson completed Tributes in the summer of 2010. Lasting some 16 minutes, there are five pieces in the set, each dedicated to a different composer and a different clarinettist (with whom Gregson had long musical associations). Each of the dedicatee composers wrote wonderfully for the Clarinet and, as a tribute to them, Gregson tried to invade, indeed imitate, their stylistic worlds in these pieces. They are as follows: To Francis Poulenc (for Emma Johnson) - a rather dreamy toccata, lyrical in feel, but interrupted by typically quirky and disruptive rhythmic episodes. To Gerald Finzi (for John Bradbury) - slow and lyrical with long melodic arches. To Igor Stravinsky (for Linda Merrick) - asymmetric rhythms dominate, with wide leaps in the solo line and bitonal harmony on the Piano. To Olivier Messiaen (for Nicholas Cox) - based on the ravishing slow movement for Cello in his Quartet for the End of Time, a seamless melody is woven around ever-changing repeated chords on the Piano. To Béla Bartók (for Michael Collins) - the most virtuoso of the set - after a slow introduction, a swirling folk-like dance unfolds, mirroring Bartok's penchant for simple modal shapes and ostinati rhythms. / Clarinette Et Piano

Edward Gregson's String Quartet was commissioned by The Manchester Mid-day Concerts Society in celebration of its 100th year. The premier performance took place on the 14th of January 2015 performed by the Navarra Quartet at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. The piece is divided into three distinct movements each developing and changing what has come before. When commenting on his compositional process for String Quartet Gregson noted that he desired to return to the classical principles of Beethoven and Bartok deciding to include extended sonata variation and rondo forms.

Shadow of Paradise was written specially for Melinda Maxwell. The work was completed in 2005 the same year that she recorded the work together with Richard Benjafield (percussion) for the Dutton label.'The work is based on the poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge Kubla Khan and I have attempted to capture some of the spirit of his highly evocative text in my music.It is structured in three main sections: the opening section (And ‘mid this tumult Kubla heard from far Ancestral voices prophesying war) is dramatic in nature with the oboe announcing two ideas - the first a high repeated note rhythmic pattern (later with multiphonics) answered by six differentlypitched drums and temple blocks and the second a short lyrical phrase mainly built on thirds.In the second section (A damsel with a dulcimer In a vision once I saw…Could I revive within me Her symphony and song) the solo oboe transforms the repeated notes and thirds of the first section into a love song underpinned by the percussionist’s vibraphone and crotales.A short reprise of the very opening leads into the final section (Beware! Beware! His flashing eyes his floating hair! Weave a circle round him thrice…) which mirrors the text with three short dances in chain form folk-like in character and increasingly climactic. A final reprise of the opening seems to suggest a violent end but the oboe’s echo of the love song answered by the percussionist’s crotales brings the work to a gentler conclusion.'            Edward Gregson - December 2011Instrumentation:Solo oboeSolo percussion (6 temple blocks 2 bongos 4 tom-toms vibraphone crotales 2 tambourines)

Par GREGSON EDWARD. The five song set the texts As I pass at dusk (Robert Kent), The day is gone (John Keats), Carol (C Day Lewis), Come live with me (C Day Lewis), and To my brother (Siegfried Sassoon). Also available for Mezzo-Soprano, or High Voice. / Musique contemporaine / Répertoire / Baryton et Piano