Video of the day: Richard Blackford's Christmas Dawn

Friday, December 4, 2020

Blackford's brand new piano miniature, performed by Simon Callaghan, ably accompanied by Jason the dog

Earlier this week, composer Richard Blackford won an Ivors Composer Award for his choral work, Pietà, an ambitious reimagining of the Stabat Mater. But today sees the release of a very different work, a piano miniature called Christmas Dawn, as a single on Nimbus Records.

Below is the video accompanying the release of Christmas Dawn, featuring pianist Simon Callaghan. The composer writes of the work: 'Christmas Dawn is a simple, hymn-like tune presented first softly, with a simple chordal accompaniment. As it gains momentum, with more expansive piano figuration the tune develops and extends. A contrasting middle section with staccato quavers heralds the return of the theme in a full, joyful iteration, before closing softly again.'


You can download the sheet music for Christmas Dawn here: wyastone.co.uk

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