Ivor Gurney
First World War composer and poet Ivor Gurney composed his orchestral elegy in the aftermath of the war, in the autumn of 1920. It was written at the time when the ceremony and architecture of the memorialisation and remembering of those killed in war were being established, with the unveiling of the Cenotaph on Whitehall, the interment of the Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey, and the beginning of the annual 11th November Act of Remembrance. Written by a composer who was himself endeavouring to come to terms with his own recent Active Service in the Front Line of France and Flanders, it is a poignant elegy to those lost in the First World War.
Gurney’s ‘War Elegy’ was recorded by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and released by Dutton Epoch in 2006.
Full score, with historical and textual notes. Edited by Philip Lancaster & Ian Venables.
TMP14. ISMN 9790708073130. 44pp.
Orchestral parts are available from the publisher.
WAR ELEGY (orch)
Scoring: 2.2.2.2.contra/4.3.3.1./timp./str.
Duration: 11'00
Full score (44pp.)
£20.00