In Remembrance – Suite for soprano saxophone and church organ

This music is essentially about loss and remembrance - it could be a lost love, brother, sister, close relative or indeed loss in conflict. 

As well as being a professional musician, I also work as a civil funeral celebrant and this suite brings together both areas of my work. The inspiration has been not just my own experiences of grief and loss, but also the many families I have met and worked with over the years, the services we have put together and the different stages of bereavement experienced by them.
The five movements are as follows:

1. Darkness
The death of someone close to us immediately brings us feelings of sadness, pain, shock, chaos and disbelief.

2. Divine Spirit
In this movement, I am trying to create the essence and pureness of a person’s spirit and although it is sad they are no longer a visible part of our lives, as the piece moves into a major key, there is joy in their spirit being set free from pain and suffering.

3. Reflection
A time of sad reflection and isolation when you realise the true magnitude of loss and the focus is on memories of times gone past.

4. Remembrance
In this movement, we are thankful in the knowledge that by remembering them, those we have lost will always be a part of us.
At the end of this movement is the poem (optional), followed by The Last Post which has always been a part of Remembrance Services everywhere and during my brass band days many years ago, I played it many times on my cornet, always feeling the poignancy and seeing how it moved people.

5. Peace & Light
Now is a time of acceptance and hope - let us not despise death, but be well content with it, since it is one of the things that nature wills - being young and growing old, bearing children and reaching maturity, experiencing the seasons of the world and the seasons of the heart, so also is the end of life.

In Remembrance

Darkness falls and daylight slips away
Spirits from the silent world surround us
Be still my friend and remember those who’ve gone
For they are at peace in our sadness

Echoes of voices heard down through the years
The warmth of the breeze on your face
Reflecting on times that have come to an end
Passing by with so much haste

But after darkness comes the light
And the glimmer of dawn brings us hope
Because for as long as we remember
They stay forever in our hearts and minds
With that precious gift of remembrance

Patsy Gamble