Cortège for a Coal Mine

Instrumentation: 2 (I = afl, II = picc). 2 (II = ca). 2 (II = bcl). 2 (II = cbsn). - 4.3(I = flghn).3.1. - timp. - 3 perc. - hp. - strings

Percussion: 1.) Tuned Nipple/Thai Gongs*, Bell Plates†, Tubular Bells 2.) Bass drum 3.) Water Gong, Crotales, Tam-tam

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PROGRAMME NOTE

Cortège for a Coal Mine was commissioned by BBC Radio 3 to mark a quarter century of the broadcaster. The UK was once full of thriving mining towns, each built around the pit or colliery at its heart.  but in 2017, the last deep coal mine in the UK – Kellingley Colliery in Yorkshire – was closed, marking the end of British mining culture.

This work takes the form of a passacaglia – a slow, solemn procession built on a repeated bass line whilst a melody is developed above. Beginning and ending with a solo flugelhorn – a nod to the brass bands that grew and developed across the UK’s coal-fields – I see the work as a funeral march for the communities and music that were formed alongside Britain’s coal pits and collieries and subsequently neglected by successive government.

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