EGG

Large orchestra

Duration: 6 mins

Conceived as a piece that could be included in a children’s Halloween concert -  perhaps along side works like Danse Macabre and The Sorcerer’s apprentice. 

 Although composed in 2014 it is partly derived from a song dating from 1982 called Easter Egg. The words, by Ben Heneghan, to that song can be found below. The opening ‘atmospheric section’ is derived from a score to an 1989 animation also called (coincidentally?) Easter Egg.

The words of the original song could be recited prior to a performance. 

On a distant continent 

My uncle likes to ramble

Till he found a giant egg 

He didn’t want to scramble

Uncle couldn’t find this egg 

In any wildlife manuals

So he packed it carefully 

In polystyrene granules

Uncle finds an egg

Sends it home to me

Stand it on my mantelpiece and watch it growing firmer

When I put my ear beside it I can hear it murmur

Something starts to move

Something starts to swell

Something starts to move

Underneath the shell

Lying on my bed last night

I dreamt that nothing mattered

In the morning I woke up 

To find the egg had shattered

Now my dog has gone

Vanished in the night

Where has Rover gone?

Hope that he’s all right

piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, cor anglais, Eb clarinet, Bb clarinet, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon. 
4 horns, 3 trumpets, 2 trombones, bass trombone, tuba.
Timpani, 3 percussion players, piano/celesta, harp, piano/celeste
strings

Electronic demo recording: