April - England

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One morning in 2010 while waking up to the radio, my half-awake ears heard an orchestral work that I instantly fell in love with.  Luckily I was able to catch the name of the piece and composer, which happened to be John Foulds' April-England, and thus began my fascination with this composer and his music.  It is unbelievable to me that Foulds and his music were virtually forgotten for the majority of the 20th century.  In particular, this piece is truly an early 20th century masterpiece that I know performers and audiences would love to play and hear, and although it pales in comparison with Foulds' own versions (it was originally written for piano,) I wanted to create a transcription in order to share this great piece with wind ensembles.  I created this in 2015 and revised it in 2019.

Foulds wrote that “Such moments as those of the Solstices and Equinoxes always seem to be particularly potent to the creative artist, and no less significant the place in which he happens to be at the time,” and he dated the score of the original piano version as 21 March 1926, the first day of spring.  He identified the opening triadic theme as “connected with the impression of April” and the stately melody that follows it (at rehearsal “A” in my transcription) with England.  The beautiful middle section is based on a repeated ground bass as joyous counterpoint builds over it leading to an overwhelming climax.

Premiered April 15, 2022 by the Eastman Wind Ensemble, conducted by Mark Davis Scatterday.