Noting the Landscape was composed in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic and the various lockdowns that ensued. During these lockdowns I had found it impossible to compose and turned instead to painting, which I had not done for many years. When commissioned by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society to write a piece to mark my 75th birthday, it seemed an obvious step for me to return to composition from this starting point. As work developed, I recognised that the music that was emerging was more ‘the expression of feeling than painting’: Beethoven had been there long before in his description of his Pastoral Symphony!
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