Elegy for Ukraine was commissioned by the recorderist John Turner as one of ten new works included in A Garland for Ukraine, an online video made in support of the Disasters Emergency Committee Ukraine humanitarian appeal. Originally composed in March 2022 for treble/tenor recorder and piano it has also been adapted for violin and piano and arranged for piano solo. The outer sections are based on a modal prayer-like theme, whilst the central section is more agitated, with fragments of the Ukrainian folksong In the Grove, by the Danube woven into the melody while the accompaniment depicts a mysterious, flowing river. As the opening material returns a fragment of the lament Plyve Kacha Po Tysyni appears over soft held chords, as if in a distant memory.
First performances:
Clara Hubbard (recorder) and Katie Laing (piano), Stoller Hall, Manchester, 20 June 2022 (original version for recorder and piano).
Recorded by John Turner (recorder) and Jeremy Pike (piano) as part of A Garland for Ukraine, British Music Society website, May 2022.
This work is also available for violin & piano and recorder & piano.
