I really love the late 19th and early 20th century nationalist English composers like Ralph Vaughan Williams, John Ireland, Arnold Bax, Gustav Holt, and most especially Gerald Finzi. Last semester we were given an assignment to compose a melody in a modal scale and I chose the Dorian mode, and set it on solo flute. I've posted it here, but here it is, again.

https://soi-gabrieli.hyperchat.com/Harmony4-ModalTune-Project1.mp3

The very first thing I wrote as an adult was another modal tune, which I set for oboe, flute (or clarinet) and piano. We played it at church for Easter a few years ago. The tune is inspired by the Wexford Carol, which is a very ancient Irish melody, adopted throughout the UK and North America.

It occurred to me that I could marry the two, and with some study, I could create a particularly English piece for strings. THEN it occurred to me that with a little bit of study about how Gerald Finzi orchestrated things, I could make it a tribute to one of my favorite composers. So ....I've started. I think it will be about eight minutes long.

Here's the introduction. This is all Me...my composition after taking a hard look at the opening to Gerald Finzi's Romance in E for String Orchestra, I came up with this:

https://soi-gabrieli.hyperchat.com/OrchestraandOrchard-introduction.mp3

This is just the introduction, but my gut tells me I'm off to a good start.

Wow...Pepin's right I can hear a flavor of Copland.

I love this introduction
It's a wonderful beginning!

It reminds me of Copland,but that's ok.

We echo the halos that bear repeating.(EB White)

The piece is called "The Orchestra and the Orchard". This is because when Finzi stepped back from his position at the Royal College and retreated to the countryside, not only did he write more music, but he wrote for, and conducted a small local string orchestra and he also grew apples, saving a number of specific English varieties from extinction.

It seemed a fitting title.