Lament for the Valley

Composed for Joo Yeon Sir, winner of The Arts Club Karl Jenkins Music Award 2014, in association with Classic fM, and first performed the following year at London’s Royal Albert with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by the composer. Constructed like a passacaglia, the plaintive opening statement gradually rises to a passionate virtuoso display featuring double stops and advanced bowing and pizzicato techniques before subsiding to a calm close. The composer later incorporated the work into Cantata Memoria, a commemoration of the 1966 Aberfan tragedy.