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A Gentle Weeping

Speare, Simon

Composed

2001

Instrumentation

Flexible Ensemble with Keyboard

Scoring

Part 1 oboe, violin 1 Part 2 flute, violin 2 Part 3 clarinet, trumpet in Bb Part 4 horns, viola Part 5 trombone, bassoon, cello Part 6 bass guitar, double bass Percussion (vibraphone, tabla, susp. cymbal) Piano

Availability

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About the work

On 30 November 2001 I awoke to the news that George Harrison had died, and spent the rest of the day sketching out this piece. This tribute piece is constructed around fragments from his song ‘While my Guitar Gently Weeps’. ‘A Gentle Weeping’ was written for my group Big Noise and was recorded by them as part of their debut CD. The first live performance was given by students at the Purcell School conducted by Karim Said on December 9th 2002. The tabla part is designed to be performed by a western percussionist rather than an Indian master, and it reflects the uninhibited magpie-like nature of Harrison, one of my favourite musicians. SS

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