Brough REQUIEM IN BLUE

Requiem in Blue Harvey Brough

Full score

CHESTER MUSIC

Composer’s Note In 1998 I won the Andrew Milne Memorial Prize for a commission to write a piece for East England Arts and Wingfield Arts. For a long time I’d wanted to write a piece in memory of my brother Lester, who died in a road accident when he was nineteen and I was seventeen - this provided an opportunity to do so. The piece reflects the whole of my musical life in terms of the orchestration and the different styles of music in which I have worked. I vividly remember singing in pieces like Britten’s War Requiem and Bach’s St Matthew Passion as a six or seven year old. I wanted to give something of that feeling to young singers who may never have sung a note in their lives - hence the children’s choir in the piece. The children’s parts in Requiem in Blue are mostly quite straightforward - some folk songs and other more or less familiar items but they are central to the piece. They aim to challenge the performers but also to be fun to sing in the learning process.

After beginning to sing so young I then carried on as a chorister in Coventry Cathedral Choir and then at Clare College Cambridge - the knowledge and love of the choral tradition I acquired along the way is, I hope reflected in the choral writing for adults. However at times when a choir is not available I have performed the piece with solo voices (SSAATTBB) and this is equally satisfactory.

The band lineup in the first performances was rather unusual. This reflects the years I spent working in early music and latterly in the fields of jazz, soul and pop music. The band consists of an early music rhythm section - harp (it’s better on a celtic harp rather than a concert harp), theorbo and chamber organ and a jazz rhythm section - (piano, bass and drums). Added to this was a flugelhorn who is mostly improvising freely at various points in the piece.

This makes perfect sense to me - I booked all my favourite musicians and got them to do what they do well - the juxtaposition of (for instance) flugel horn against theorbo is a thrilling sound. But I realize that these forces may not be that easy to put together (although the number of exceptionally talented young musicians in all musical genres never ceases to amaze me). And in fact I, (and others) have now done the piece so many times and in so many different ways that there has ceased to be a definitive lineup.

The essential elements are: 1) a choir of children 2) an SATB choir of adults or 8-10 solo voices 3) a jazz, blues or reasonably free solo singer to sing movements 1, 2 (Motherless Child), and 8 (She moves through the fair). All other solos can be covered by choir members.

4) an improvising soloist - I myself have done it with flugelhorn, saxophone, vibes, but any melody instrument (including guitar) would be fine.

5) a Rhythm section to supply the groove. For me this tends to be bass and drums but a percussionist is fine and I’m sure it could be done with no percussion at all.

6) a chamber organ, preferably with harp and theorbo or guitar.

7) a narrator for the last movement, reading Lee Hall’s wonderful words from Spoonface Steinberg. In the original radio play, this was the voice of a nine year old girl. It is good if it can be the voice of a young person (of either sex), but the main requirement is for someone who understands the feeling and can put the words across with clarity.

Requiem in Blue can be performed according to the full score or else, with a little imagination, in many different ways. I only make one suggestion for performance, which is that everyone should be at ease with what they are being asked to do. The choral singers should sing in their normal style, not feel any need to make it groovy. All the players should play in a style that feels right – if that includes improvising then that’s fine. When everything is strong in their different ways then the music will flow from there.

Harvey Brough, September 2007 http://www.harveybrough.com

REQUIEM IN BLUE Harvey Brough

INSTRUMENTATION

Flugelhorn Harp Theorbo/Guitar Chamber Organ/Keyboard Bass Drum kit Solo singers Children’s choir SATB Choir (or solo voices) Narrator (last movement)

Duration: circa 52 minutes Instrumental parts are available for hire from the publisher The vocal score is on sale, order number CH72952

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