I was recently invited by Damien Holloway to compose a short work for string ensemble for a concert to celebrate the bicentenary of St. Johns Church, Richmond, later this year (2023). The idea immediately appealed and I very quickly decided to take the melody of the late 18th century English song composed by James Hook, "The Lass of Richmond Hill", as my focal point.

St. Johns is situated on a charming site, a hill overlooking the township, which, to me, validated the title, Richmond Hill. The tune has a pleasant lilt in a quasi Scottish folk style. My piece keeps that tune hidden to start with and only gradually reveals it over the 5 minutes duration. The work culminates with a one and only unambiguous complete exposure of the 24 bar melody.

Instrumentation: String Ensemble

Downloadable sample pages found at the link here.