Pomp and Circumstance by Elspeth Brooke

The first thing I did when asked to write this piece was to type ‘Pomp and Circumstance’ into YouTube and watch the clip that came up of Sir Andrew Davis conducting Elgar’s March No. 1 at the Last Night of the Proms some years ago. As I watched I felt uneasy about the nationalistic sentiments of the words of Land of Hope and Glory but utterly captivated by the emotive power of so many voices joined together, lifting the roof with that soaring melody. It struck me that this collective physical engagement with the music during a classical concert was very unusual, especially in an age when many of us traverse the city aurally cocooned by our ipods.

I decided to make a virtual choir piece by combining individual recordings of people singing along whilst listening to a live recording of the March through headphones. I aimed to capture a variety of unrehearsed responses to the piece from people of all ages and voice types. There are no effects added, and the ambient sounds have been left in: you will hear the whistling of a hearing aid, the scratching of my friend’s pet rats in their cage and the merry gurgling of a toddler as his mother sings along. The structure reflects that of Elgar’s March, with the Land of Hope and Glory Trio section appearing twice and fragments of the orchestral themes presented in a condensed form.

Voices

• Kerry Andrew
• Kenneth Astell
• Betty Bailey
• Andrew Brooke
• Elspeth Brooke
• Fiona Brooke
• Melissa Dobson
• Hazel Gould
• Elizabeth McCall
• Arthur Redwood
• James Redwood
• Moira Sharpe
• Robert Slorach
• Joyce Sutcliffe
• Angela Tervet
• Mike Ward
• David Whiteford
• Pam Wild