Abstract
Marylebone Elegy By Stephen Goss When I was asked to write a piece for the inaugural London International Guitar Competition in 2012, I immediately thought of writing about London itself. Not a modern cityscape, more something that might evoke the London of the past – nostalgic, but tinged with melancholy. Around the corner from King’s Place, where the final stages of the competition were scheduled to take place, is St Pancras Station and the recently renovated St Pancras Renaissance Hotel – a building Thomas Beecham once compared to Elgar’s First Symphony. I had just completed a new guitar concerto for Graham Roberts and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the middle movement of which was a homage to Elgar, so musical material from the concerto became the starting point for Marylebone Elegy. None of Elgar’s music is quoted, but I allude to his musical language. In March 2011 the guitarist Richard Hand died suddenly, he was a cornerstone of the London guitar scene and I had been looking for an suitable opportunity to write a piece in his memory. He lived in Marylebone all of his adult life. Marylebone Elegy was commissioned by the International Guitar Foundation (IGF) for the inaugural London International Guitar Competition. The first performances were given by the six semi-finalists and, subsequently, the three finalists at King’s Place, London, on 9th and 10th March 2012. Performance notes Marylebone Elegy is a study in legato playing and long-term phrasing. Left hand fingers should be kept held down for as long as possible to maintain a full-sounding resonance throughout. I have included a great deal of fingering. This is not intended to be obligatory, but it gives an idea of the sort of sostenuto texture that I imagined. Dynamics are put in as suggestions: performers are free to come up with their own. The tempo can be very flexible. I have put much of the piece on two staves so that musical lines are clearer. All natural harmonics are notated as diamond note-heads at sounding pitch and can be found at frets 7, 12 or 19. Accidentals last for the duration of the bar but only in the octave specified. The piece is around 6 minutes long. © Stephen Goss, February 2012 www.stephengoss.net