LoA

LoA (suggested pronunciation ‘eloway’) is a commission from North Music Trust for Royal Northern Sinfonia and guests, for performance at Sage Gateshead on 22 September 2018 as part of the celebrations of RNS's 60th anniversary. The piece brings together five leading soloists from RNS and four professional guest musicians who have had to adjust their practice to life-changing disabilities.

Undeniably in this project it has been more important than ever to communicate with the players and to assimilate their particularities in order to write suitable parts for each of them. Once these were ascertained, the high musical standard of the guest players made it possible for the creative work to flow without any great sense of impediment. More than one of constraint, the experience of composing LoA was one of channelling the energy, the struggle and ultimately the triumph of these wonderful players over adversity.

As will be obvious to many listeners, LoA is a fantasia on the Northumbrian traditional tune Lads of Alnwick (first published in 1733). Since I first heard it in 2005 by the Kathryn Tickell Band, this tune has intrigued me for its quirkiness, its tightness of construction and the vertiginous circularity of its design. I have long looked forward to an opportunity to immerse myself in this tune through some kind of creative exploration.

The opportunity has arrived to make a start, thanks to a commission from Royal Northern Sinfonia. I offer the piece to RNS on its 60^th anniversary, with gratitude for the many magnificent musical experiences the orchestra has given me, including some with my own music.

Making the acronymic title even more suitable for the occasion, in my native Spanish loa is a word for ‘eulogy’ or ‘praise’, which is what this piece is for Royal Northern Sinfonia. More obscurely perhaps, Loa is the river on the banks of which a small contingent of Bolivian civilians fought to fend off the invading Chilean forces in 1879. The rout of the Bolivians led to their being driven out of their own coastal territory, leaving the country in a landlocked condition Bolivians still consider temporary. This, too, is relevant to some aspects of this piece.

An alternative version for ten players is also available. 

© Agustín Fernández 2018