An internationally-renowned composer from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is to stage the world premiere of his latest work in the city next month as a tribute to the fallen in the Great War.
John Young, who performed the UK premiere of An Angel At Mons at DMU during Remembrance Week in November last year, was commissioned to write the piece by Leicester City Council as part of its “Leicester Remembers the Great War” events.
The piece is described as “a journey into sound through life, death, hope and despair in the trenches”.
The hour-long piece, called Red Sky, will feature the recorded memories of 20 World War One veterans sourced from the Imperial War Museum’s oral history archive which have been woven into an immersive musical landscape, putting listeners on a journey through wartime events.
The stories, told by men and women, were recorded much later in their life and offer personal and moving insights into key moments of their wartime lives.
John has called the piece, which includes a live trio of clarinet, piano and flute, a “cinema for the ear” experience.
John said: “As you can imagine there are masses and masses of recordings in the archives so what I have tried to do is use the men and women who take the most reflective approach and whose descriptive language is the most engaging.
“I want this to be an experience that brings the listener a little bit closer to what it might have been like to live and fight during the war.
“Nothing could ever recreate this entirely - heaven forbid anyone has to ever experience anything like this – but I want people to be involved and moved by the stories.
“It is important that these men and women – it was essential women were recognised too for their War effort - gave their accounts far later in life. It meant they had been through a lot of world events since the Great War, including a Second World War, and they had been given time to think about what it all meant to them.
“Hopefully people who attend the concert will have this cinema for the ear experience. We are trying to evoke images of war and a sense of being somewhere other than a concert hall.”
The work unfolds as a series of episodes, creating a narrative through connecting themes such as ‘Bayonet’, ‘Desertion’, ‘Gas’ and ‘Over the Top’ and uses voices not just of soldiers but conscientious objectors.
John will be performing with clarinettist Heather Roche, alto flautist Carla Rees and pianist Xenia Pestova.
The concert takes place at New Walk Museum and Gallery on Sunday 12 April at 7pm. Tickets cost £9 for students and £12 for general admission and are available by calling 0116 225 4900 or directly from the New Walk Museum.
Posted on Friday 20 March 2015