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The Parliament Choir concert on Wednesday was a huge success, and my arrangement of We Three Kings appears to have gone down particularly well, even appearing on BBC1’s The Daily Politics, of all things. As usual with my music, the score is available for free from here, so please do offer it to any choirs you think might be interested, and don’t forget that the kings do not arrive until January, so there is plenty of time to learn it.

awhile awandering was less convincing, though, and I have to admit that I would do a rewrite on the orchestral scoring were we to perform it again. I remain convinced that it works in its original (and as yet unperformed) incarnation as an organ piece, though, so I am under no hurry to get any revisions done. One forgets that composers do not often get to hear an orchestration in the flesh until the day of the performance itself, but it is safe to say that I have learned many things.

Tonight the Nunc Dimittis will be performed at St. John’s, Smith Square, and I am looking forward to that. It will also bring much needed respite from ferrying kitty to the vet where he has been stapled together twice today, although one wag quipped that maybe a bulldog clip might be in order.

Lastly, I need to mention that I was saddened to read of the death of the composer Jonathan Harvey, and I intend to write a full appreciation of his work when I get an opportunity. May it suffice for now to say that he was an intellectually curious and profound writer of great insight and originality, and I wholeheartedly borrowed one of his ideas for one of my pieces, which went on to win an award. That it did so was testament to the quality and execution of his own thought rather than any ability I might have, and I am genuinely sorry to hear that he will write no more.

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