An arrangement for wind band of Purcell's haunting Dido's Lament. This arrangement was made in the period of national mourning following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. I needed something as a reflective concert piece and chose to arrange Dido's Lament - the aria "When I am laid in earth" from the opera Dido and Aeneas by the English composer Henry Purcell (1659-1695). There have been various versions of this beautiful song from Stokowski's lush orchestration to Annie Lennox's more lateral slant. While not wanting to try and completely emulate the original, I did not want to stray too far from it. Purcell's style of Baroque music was uniquely English and, for the theoretically minded, this aria makes exemplary use of the passus duriusculus in the ground bass.
- Rob Wiffin
Duration: 3.30
