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Richard Blackford writes: "Canticle of Winter was written in the village of Blewbury, Oxfordshire, where I live, during the winter of 2019, and was inspired by the last stanza of Robert Frost's poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. The sense of restlessness, of something unresolved, despite the beauty of the winter landscape, permeates the music. It is written in rondo form, and the first theme, soft, sustained and melancholic, is contrasted with rhythmic string writing against which the saxophone plays exuberant flurries of notes, as if improvised. The dynamic range of the entire piece is from ppp to barely more than mf, and it is the soft, plangent sound of the soprano saxophone that evokes the stillness of the winter night and the traveler's journey through it. Canticle of Winter was first performed on October 19th.2019 by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra at Cadogan Hall, London, conducted by Gavin Carr. The soloist was Amy Dickson, to whom the work is dedicated."
