THE LAND OF COUNTERPANE op.451 (May 1993)

Published by: Highbridge Music Ltd
Commissioned by: The Mary Erskine School, Edinburgh for their Tri-centenary
Instrumentation: Boy speaker (RLS as a boy), Male speaker (RLS as a man), children's chorus,
2(I+II=picc).1.2.1 - 2110 - perc(2): timp/cyms/susp.cym/BD/tgl/xyl/conga/bongo/wind machine/cast/tamb/SD - harp - pno(=harpsichord/cel/small organ) - strings
[Key to Abbreviations]
Note on Lyrics: Text: Robert Louis Stevenson from "A Child's Garden Of Verses"
Duration: 21 mins
First Performance: Usher Hall Edinburgh with David Rintoul and the choir and orchestra of Mary Erskine School conducted by Helen Mitchell 25th March 1995.
Piano / Vocal score for sale
Vocal score for sale
Full score for hire
Orchestral parts for hire
HIGHBRIDGE MUSIC CD 2007  Made by The Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the choir of The Mary Erskine School Edinburgh with David Rintoul (as Robert Louis Stevenson as a man) and Niall Rice (as Robert Louis Stevenson as a boy) and conducted by the composer. Available from this site Highbridge Music on demand

Movements

• Prologue: The Land of Counterpane
  

  RLS as a boy speaks over the orchestral prologue. The speaker should be about 8 years old

• 1: Windy Nights
  

  The choir whisper and shout 'gallop and gallop and gallop' while the orchestra hints at the 18th century with a prominent harpsichord part suggesting the highwayman

• 2: Singing
  

  We hear the 'organ man' play, we hear a 'birdie' sing (represented by a flute)and Japanese and Spanish children playing - all glimpsed in a song lasting less than a minute

• 3: Where go the boats?
  

  Two-part harmony from the choir and from solo violin and cello at the end

• 4: Marching Song
  

  Unison voices with a strong Scottish accent!

• 5: From a Railway Carriage
  

  The song rattles along at high speed till its final, distant whistle, which leads directly to...

• 6: Night and Day
  

  ..a slow ballad and gentle evocation of a child's view of the change from light to darkness, from darkness to light

• 7: The Swing
  

  Woodwind conjure up the motion of a garden swing

• 8: Young Night Thought
  

  Off-stage solo trumpet and trombone summon up ancestral memories in an evocation of what is sometimes called the 'akashic record'. The young Stevenson seems to see the whole of past life marching with him as he hovers between wakefulness and sleep

• 9: Looking-glass River
  

  Clarinets shimmer with rippling water and reflections, but at the end lie still as a looking-glass until...

• 10: The Land of Counterpane
  

  A full choir setting of the title song which segues into...

• Epilogue: To any reader
  

  Themes and echoes are recapitulated as an orchestral coda over which is spoken (as if by Stevenson himself in his mid-thirties)'To Any Reader', a poetic epilogue that expresses both his ability to recapture his childhood memories and his regret at the passing of the years.

Notes

The role of Robert Louis Stephenson as a man should be spoken by a male narrator and as a boy by a boy of about 8.

Number 22 of the collection 'Lifecycle' is a piano transcription of the song 'Night and Day'.

Performances

7th May 2011	Hartsville Civic Chorale, Children's Chorale,High School Singers and Palmetto State Boys Choir, Hartsville, Southern Carolina, USA, West Hartsville Baptist Church
5th February 2011	Scottish Chamber Orchestra, conductor Garry Walker, Erskine Stuarts Melville choir, The Usher Hall, Edinburgh, family concert, The Voice of a City, 3.00pm
27th September 2009	Cheltenham Cantilena Orchestra conducted by Stephen Belinfante, Cheltenham Town Hall 3.00pm
8th July 2008	Smithy Bridge Primary School, Symphony Hall Birmingham 'Windy Nights' only - Music for Youth National Festival
3rd February 2008	Children's chorus trained by Mary Noyes with The Richmond Orchestra conducted by Philip Hesketh, The German School, Petersham 3pm
23rd September 2007	The Mary Erskine Choir & Scottish Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Howard Blake, as part of a concert to inaugurate the new hall, Mary Erskine Arts Centre, Edinburgh Two perfomances at 3.00 and 7.30
23rd September 2007	Children's, Boys' and Girls' Choirs from Taplow Choirs and Pure Harmony children's choir (Slough) conducted by Gillian Dibden, Windsor Festival, Taplow Court Concert Hall 5pm
25th March 2007	The Scottish Chamber Orchestra & Mary Erskine Choir, conducted by Howard Blake, Usher Hall, Edinburgh Recording to be conducted by the composer
24th March 2007	Helen Mitchell (conductor) with choir and orchestra of Mary Erskine School, Usher Hall Edinburgh
13th April 2000	Berkshire Young Musicians Trust, Gillian Dibden (conductor), Royal Albert Hall Programmed with 'Carmina Burana' conducted by Christopher Bell
25th March 1998 - 26th March 1998	The Ex Corde Choir from the College Chorus, speakers Graeme Gilchrist & Andrew Cubie and First Orchestra, George Watson's College, Edinburgh
2nd December 1995	New London Children's Choir & New London Orchestra conducted by Ron Corp, St John's Smith Square
25th March 1995	Mary Erskine School choir and orchestra / David Rintoul (speaker) / Helen Mitchell, Usher Hall, Edinburgh

Reviews

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They were also in the unfortunate position of following pupils from the Erskine Stewart's Melville Schools who impressed with their incredibly crisp and precise articulation of Howard Blake's The Land of Counterpane.

Based on texts from Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses, these catchy songs were well-suited to children's voices.

susan nickalls, The Scotsman, 8/2/2011

Related Works

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