Her tears fell with the dews at even

The title of this one-movement orchestral piece is a poetic snapshot from Mariana, the first great poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, published in 1830. This short handful of words encapsulates a moment of grief which is the basis of the enfolding music - an extended distillation of this particular emotion. The work begins with a series of isolated, short but dense chords on double basses, wind, violins, cellos, violas and other instruments before a solo flute takes over with an expressive and highly ornamented modal melody.

In fact, the solo flute is the most important element in this work, and carries a lot of the thematic and emotional core. Other solo instruments gradually emerge as counterpoints as the music heads to an early climactic outburst: all the brass instruments play exaggeratedly extrovert material which is marked ‘blaring, like a primeval fanfare’.

The strings then take over with complex heterophonic lines, punctuated with soft chords in the brass and rippling roulades on woodwind. The flute comes back into focus in a new variation of the material, this time accompanied by delicate chamber-like touches throughout the orchestra. Waves of string arpeggios lead the music to its main climax in a repeated lamenting figure on brass and wind, interrupted by virtuosic episodes for the flute alone.

This settles into an intense and introverted coda for the flute accompanied by cellos, before the opening pulsing chords return, as the music reaches a desolate and resigned conclusion.

James MacMillan, 2023

“The work began with some rumbling chords, punctuated with silence before the flute began to soar and sing.” —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette