The winner of Grimethorpe Colliery Band's 1st Annual Composition Competition 2023.

Programme Note:
All around us, it seems there is a battle raging. It is a war of good against evil, one which is fighting for our very souls. We see pain, sorrow, anger, depression, confusion and conflict. We can see the effect, and we can see the fallout and the symptoms - but our eyes cannot physically see what’s happening. As human beings we have been given free will, but we fall short at times due to the temptations around us. You could say we are ‘Fallen Souls’.

The lone horn at the start of this work depicts that ‘Fallen Soul’. Not knowing where to turn, they are swept away by the many temptations around them as the music gathers pace (bars 9 to 11). An unstable meter pervades from bar 12, echoeing this uncertainty and lack of grounding. These swathes of forces are ever present throughout the work, even if they are not always obvious. There is a return of the lone horn from bar 104 as the ‘Fallen Soul’ continues to seek direction, but as the music moves back into the chaos heard earlier before coming to a rather abrupt close, it is left somewhat unresolved.

Currently unpublished.