Pastorals

My composition Pastorals was written in the spring of 1965. It was commissioned by the South West German Radio, Baden-Baden, and received its first performance at the Donaueschingen Music Festival in the autumn of 1965. It was played by the orchestra of the South West German Radio conducted by Ernest Bour.

Pastorals is scored for alto flute, clarinet in C (an instrument used in military bands and in some folk music); horns, trumpets, trombones and tuba; percussion, timpani; twenty-four violins and twelve ’celli. Leaving aside the flute and clarinet, who only play in certain sections of the piece, the composition is written principally as a virtuoso work for brass. In the choice of instruments and in the final section of the composition, the inspiration of the brass music of Giovanni Gabrieli may be felt. The idea of a string orchestra is generally avoided and the instruments are used as collections of soloists in varying groups.

The title Pastorals does not refer to the English countryside: nor is this composition a Pastorale. At the time of its inception and composition, I was writing incidental music for stage productions of “Oedipus Rex” and “Oedipus in Colonus”. Traces of the music for “Oedipus in Colonus” reappear in this composition and I felt that the mood of the work in some way reflected the play in which violent events take place in a pastoral landscape. The composition has, however, no programme.

The composition is in one movement but in two principal sections separated by a “lull”. The first is a set of variations on a duet stated near the beginning by the alto flute and clarinet. After the lull there is a kind of “choral fugue”. In this section, the brass is divided into three groups: four horns, and two times two trumpets and two trombones. The strings are divided into groups of four parts and there is an important part for four cymbals involving a new manner of execution.

Alexander Goehr