- Forces (whole work)
- 2 flutes (II doubling piccolo), 2 oboes (II doubling cor anglais), 2 clarinets in B♭, 2 bassoons (II doubling contrabassoon), 4 horns, 3 trumpets in B♭, 2 trombones, bass trombone, tuba, timpani, percussion (2), strings
- Duration
- 7 minutes 13 seconds
- Difficulty
- Within reach of a good amateur orchestra
- Status
- Available
- Materials
- Conductor's score on A3 (or Tabloid) · parts on A4 (or Letter) · playback render
Programme note
Lichfield Cathedral
The finale opens with Lichfield's own ten bells, rung in the woodwind: real ringing, at real ringing speed, two courses of rounds and then a complete lead of Grandsire Caters, the method genuinely rung in that tower. Beneath the peal the deer theme from the first movement returns in the brass, slowed to a little over half speed and thickening a phrase at a time. The bells stand; the tenor's last stroke hums on in the clarinets; and three trombones (three spires, three voices) state the chorale alone for the first time. Then the war interrupts. The chorale is turned upside down, driven through the orchestra as an assault figure, and finally stated in the wrong mode, at full weight, in three parts, where the middle voice collapses and stops. Two voices are left holding a bare fifth in the ruins. From there the music reassembles, section by section until the chorale is sung whole and in its own key by the full orchestra.