Patient Birds

"Patient Birds" was written for members of the National Youth Orchestra, of which I am one of their 6 composers, and was performed in the foyer of the South Bank centre as part of the Urban Street Festival. The title was taken from a line from a Sassoon poem: "Patient birds, who all this weary winter wait for spring." The titles of the five movements, meanwhile, are from a combination of Sassoon, Rilke and original poems. It is a reaction against the current environmental and socio-political situation in the world. It is designed not to be a piece of musical protest as such, but rather as a way of moving people to reflect on and discuss these issues, without which no progress can be made.