On Distant Lands by Will Dutta

A recent performance of some late nineteenth century French and Russian music unconsciously fed many romantic figurations into the score and what finally appears is very far from Stravinsky’s own rhythmic and more pointed neo-classical style. 

However, many of his early composition teachers included the giants of the late romantic style, notably Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky and Debussy, so this sound world would have been very familiar to him.

It was the atmosphere and the story of Stravinsky’s Firebird rather than actual thematic material that inspired me, so when I composed On Distant Lands the picture of a fantastical kingdom long forgotten came into my thoughts as well as a dusty red colour.

After a nostalgic motif is developed, simple birdcalls open the middle section with a flourish down the keyboard that returns the listener back to the opening idea, slightly developed and more longing.

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