All is Well

Instrumentation

Reader, clarinet, piano, children's choir

Other Information

“All is well” [1989] is scored for speaker, clarinet, children’s choir & piano and was composed in memory the young and talented clarinettist Robert Hicks who, together with his family had very close links with the performers in the première performance on 13th March 1989 at the Great Hall, Farnham Maltings. The choir from St Christopher’s School was conducted by Richard Stevens who has commissioned each of the composer’s works for the Farnham Festival. The other performers were Jessica Barrett [speaker], Anne Brookes [clarinet] and Jean Stevens [piano]. First performance with the optional third voice: 23rd April 1991, Leicester Cathedral sung by the ladies of the Leicester Bach Choir conducted by the composer.

“All is well” uses the comforting words of Canon Henry Scott Holland and contrasts these with the words of the evening hymn ‘Round me falls the night’. At the opening of the work, the main theme is heard which represents the departed. It forms the basis for the cadenzas on the clarinet which provide and accompaniment to the speaker.

In the original programme note, Richard Stevens anticipates the audience questioning the validity of the subject as a basis for a work for children: “The young, possibly unknown to their parents, frequently consider their origins and long-term future. Their questions, when voiced, are profound and adults are hard-pressed to produce answers which will satisfy and reassure the active minds of the young.”