The Knell of Parting Day

This piece was written in 1983 as a study for my large-scale work The Kingdom of Bones, which was completed later that same year. The Knell of Parting Day divides into three sections the first of which consists of a slow melodic line punctuated by bell-like notes, the second a small set of variations which builds to the third consisting of a sweeping melodic line that eventually returns to the opening gesture. The piece inhabits the same crepuscular-inspired soundscape as The Kingdom of Bones, and it was this that suggested the line from Thomas Gray’s Elegy as a suitable title.

The Knell of Parting Day was premiered in May 1983 at the Royal Northern College of Music by Warwick Armstrong.

Philip Grange