Instrumentation
chorus of voices with 9 solo parts (5 trebles, 3 altos, 1 deep alto or tenor) - 2 pnos - small organ(chamber or elec) - 6 soli tuned perc: gong/pedal BD/3 susp.cym/wdbl/tgl/SD/tabor/bells/tamb/2 glsp/TD/xyl/ scraper/tam-t - large perc group: (instruments unspecified)
Availability
Full score 0-571-50330-6, chorus part 0-571-50332-2 on sale, parts for hire
Programme Notes
Reviews
'The musical textures are simple, austere, the tragic story - unfolding like a troped plainchant - broken by sinister fortissimo sound-clusters or sustained by soft murmurs, eddies of wind and snow, the sound of distant guns the narrative detail pointed and contrasted by short vocal solos. A work of powerful pity and anger, compassion, and quiet, sad beauty.'
Dominic Gill, Financial Times, 20 May 1969
Edward Greenfield, The Guardian, 20 May 1969