Symphony no2 - 'The Cheltenham Symphony' - Op10 no7
live excerpt (mp3)
'David Curtis' thoughtful condcuting succeeded in bringing out the intensity and visionary nature of Decio's music'
Roger Jones Glos. Echo - after world-premiere.
This three movement, forty-two minute work was written for, and about, the beautiful Cotswold town of Cheltenham.
I have chosen the photo above to represent the symphony. A Gloucestershire Echo photographer took it after a bombing raid during World War II (picture courtesy of the Glos. Echo). My father came to England from the Ukraine as a direct result of the war.
I began the symphony at UEA in Norwich where I was studying PGCE secondary music - 'they' were trying to teach me educational psychology whilst I was writing a symphony. I finished the work in Cheltenham and dedicated the last movement 'in memoriam Gustav Holst'.
The Symphony begins with a dramatic gesture with the strings leaping in ninths. This tells of the architecture of Cheltenham town and of the surrounding rolling hills. At times the strings open out as if soaring over the edge of a ledge like a bird of prey looking down on a Cotswold landscape.
The second movement for strings alone is more desperate - it reaches for something more. The cellos divide into three parts in places to give a deep rich texture and the writing is richly layered and imitative.
The finale contains harmonic reference to Gustav Holst. It also has a braying donkey, a runaway train and a timpani cadenza though the emotional highpoint comes in the form of a Ukrainian folk tune that I learnt whilst in the Ukraine several years ago - my relatives sang it to me.
The final chord in the work is one of 'hope' and the work speaks of - 'triumph over adversity' which is why I am proud to dedicate the Symphony, as a whole, to Lord Nigel Jones.
I am pleased with this forward-looking Symphony which I am happy to call - 'The Cheltenham Symphony'.
Duration
42 minutes in three movements
Scoring
2fl, 2 Ob, 2Cl in Bb, 2Bsn, 4Hns, 2tpts, 2ten trb, b.trb, tba, 2 percussion (including piano), timps, strings
1st performance
Feb 22nd, 2004 in Pittville Pump Room, Cheltenham with the Cheltenham Symphony Orchestra - conductor David Curtis.
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