Noting the Landscape : 2024

Noting the Landscape was composed in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic and the various lockdowns that ensued. During these lockdowns I had found it impossible to compose and turned instead to painting, which I had not done for many years. When commissioned by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society to write a piece to mark my 75th birthday, it seemed an obvious step for me to return to composition from this starting point. As work developed, I recognised that the music that was emerging was more ‘the expression of feeling than painting’: Beethoven had been there long before in his description of his Pastoral Symphony!

The work comprises four movements of which the first three are played without a break. In the first, From a window, the landscape is seen from above, and recalls the mixture of anxiety and excitement that I experienced on my first flight. An oak by water is somewhat more ‘programmatic’ – this is a shorescape, a little snapshot of Oglet, an historic and somewhat remote stretch of the south Liverpool shoreline which holds some significant memories for south Liverpool residents and friends and members of my own family. The area (the name is believed to be derived from the Old English for ‘oak by water’) has sadly been under threat of development for many years. Ironically in the context of this piece, the only view most people have of it these days is from an aircraft window seconds before landing on the runway at John Lennon Airport.

Inspired by a patch of primroses that appeared in my French garden in the year before lockdown (a mini-landscape), I wrote An April primrose in memory of my Mother, who died in February 2022 at the age of 100. Having an April birthday, she was particularly fond of primroses, and the dance-like quality of this short movement reflects her life-long enjoyment of dance, even well into her eighties when she discovered the delights of cruise ships and the opportunity to dance every night with a dance host!

The final movement, The fall of Narcissus (and the rise of Aurora) is best seen as an abstract reflection of the socio-political landscape of the pandemic years. Listeners may notice the presence of five-note motif drawn from a song released by a popular Swedish group, apparently a favourite of partygoers in a famous London location during the lockdowns. To put it mildly, there aren’t many who would argue that the pandemic was well-handled by the UK government. Coming at the culmination of 14 years of mis-management, we invoke the spirit of the goddess Aurora, in the hope of better days to come.

Stephen Pratt

March 2024