Maecenas Wind Bands & Ensembles

Night Journey
A Cantata for Baritone, Chorus and Concert Band

In Night Journey, Basford's superb handling of his forces, choir, baritone soloist and large wind orchestra provides us with a substantial forty-minute extended secular choral work in the tradition of Elgar, Finzi and Vaughan Williams. His innate ear for colour and sure sense of architecture makes his eclectic collection of texts from a variety of poets including Longfellow, Poe, Donne, Fletcher and Blake an evocative and memorable depiction of the passing of time between dusk and sunrise. His knack of writing eminently sing-able vocal and instrumental lines combined with his strong sense of harmonic movement engages us throughout from the gentle pastoral opening Prelude to the awesome final climax in the Hymn to Sunrise with three pairs of clashed cymbals. This is a work that is sure to live forever and become a classic in it's own right! Duration: 39 minutes.