The Yew by Malcolm Smith

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The Yew for harmonium (1998) 2'26"

This short piece was inspired by a WWOOF-ers' day at Michael's Folly in July 1998, which I spent up a ladder pruning/sculpting the Yew tree outside my round window. I wrote it on the harmonium there, but it could also be played on piano, organ, synthesiser, or be rearranged for other instruments.

An initially sorrowful sea shanty lament finds a spark of optimism which starts an ascending sequence of chords where one note of a triad rises by a semitone each bar (a reversed version of the descending piano chords of 'She Waits For Me In Heaven' from my Flute Sonata). This navigates through some scary keys with lots of flats, with the melody building in intensity to a jubilant ending returning to a major restatement of the initial theme.

It needs a better name; I'm waiting to find an especially enchanting forest or ancient woodland somewhere to name it after.

Scores and recordings will eventually be available on request once I get my music computer fully operational.
[This page is longing for the day when scores and audio samples will be added...]