Graham P Andrew's Blog
Life is a journey. The scenery and characters change, but the music goes on...
ECS March 2020 Concert
Ealing Choral Society Cadogan Hall concert March 21 2020
Ealing Choral Society's annual Cadogan Hall concert for 2020 is going to be Glorious!
Vivaldi's stunning Gloria, followed by Mozart's equally glorious Great Mass in C minor.
The choir has rarely been in better voice, so this is one not to miss!
ECS June 2019 Concert - Northern Lights
ECS Northern Lights Concert 22 June 2019
Another year, another summer concert? But this time it is a bit special. This time it includes my first commissioned piece!
The theme of 'Northern Lights' was already set, with a selection of pieces from places where the Aurora Borealis can be seen. But there was no piece about the Aurora itself. So the idea was born for a piece to describe that great natural phenomenon.
The words of a poem by Albert Laighton were selected and the piece of music, my opus 9, is already in rehearsal. The signs are good. It is going to be a starry night!
The Aurora Borealis by Albert Laighton (1829-1887 / USA)
With strange, fantastic shapes they haunt my brain; A sky of amber, streaked with silver rain;
A blaze of glory, Heav’n's resplendent fires; A temple gleaming with a thousand spires;
A sea of light that laves a shore of stars; The gates of Paradise, swift-rolling cars*;
A golden pulse, quick-beating through the night; Contending armies mailed in armor bright;
A gauzy curtain drawn by unseen hands; Night's gorgeous drap’ry looped with starry bands;
Vast, burning cities, that lie far away; Blushes on Nature's face - pale ghosts of Day;
A boundless prairie swept by phantom fire; The vibrant strings of some gigantic lyre;
Emblazoned chariots ever skyward driv’n; God writing in the open book of Heav’n;
The flaming banner of the North unfurled; The mystery that dares a boasting world!
- cars = railway rolling stock, so swift-rolling cars = a train
A short bio of Laighton can be found here: https://mypoeticside.com/poets/albert-laighton-poems#block-bio
Audio visualizer
A new audio visualizer
I have created a new component which generates a dynamic image of the music being played by an audio file. This provides an alternative to a YouTube video. It also allows the user to change the colours in the visualization before, during and after the playing of the music.
Initially this is available for Gold (opus 7) and Aurora (opus 8).
ECS Carol Concert 2018
ECS Carol Concert 2018
This year's Ealing Choral Society annual Carol Concert on 15 December is in aid of Home Start, which provides volunteers to help families with young children deal with the challenges they face.
The church will be packed, so get your tickets now!
ECS November 2018 Concert
ECS Remembrance Concert 17 November 2018
On 17 November 2018 I will be taking part in Ealing Choral Society's Armistice Centenary Commemoration concert, at St Barnabas church in Ealing. This promises to be a moving and memorable occasion, with music and readings to evoke the First World War and its ending. Unfortunately it is SOLD OUT, so watch for details of the next concert...
For more details go to Ealing Choral Society.
Introductory post
A musical biography
My formal musical training ended in my late teens attaining grade 8 piano. At school in Maidstone and the University of Warwick I played timpani and percussion and remember battling with Carmina Burana and Belshazzar’s Feast. When faced with a choice of which part of the orchestration for Ecclesiastes to keep for the reduced score at the first performance, I chose to retain the percussion section.
From my early twenties onwards I have sung bass in a variety of choirs, including over twenty years with Ealing Choral Society, singing many of the great choral works. I have also sung throughout the south west of England and on tour in China, India, Cyprus, Austria, Spain and France.
I have degrees in economics and I am a chartered accountant who works as a software engineer. I am also a self-confessed computer geek, so when composition software became available a few years ago, I downloaded a copy and started fooling around. One thing led to another. Whatever next?