Mike Workman

My mother will be 89 years old soon. This music is by way of a thank you!

(This is the revised and remxed version)

The last of three parts of a gentile piece of music inspired by a walk on a sunny day in Spring.

The second of three parts of a gentile piece of music inspired by a walk on a sunny day in Spring.

The first of three parts of a gentile piece of music inspired by a walk on a sunny day in Spring.

This is a short symphony in one movement. Rather than use triads, this time I've been experimenting with free counterpoint -- although in effect, many of the chords that emerged are triads -- although not all of them. I'll try to be more adventurous in future! The music has four voices, played in parallel with slightly different additional voices.

What inspired it? A sense of gratitude that i live in a democracy in a place where we are able to change the government without risking the ire of an evil dictator, alongside deep concern for the peoples of Ukraine and Russia whose democratic rights are being destroyed -- and anger at the evil war being waged against the people of Ukraine, whose lives, homes, livelihoods, and future are being taken away from them.

A gentle piece of slow, relaxing music where I explore counterpoint. I began writing the music at the same time as hearing the death of Archbishop Tutu, one of my personal heroes.

REVISED In the final movement, Zeus and Gaia speak to the listener, asking if they will take notice of their prophet's words and work together to save the Earth and Gaia. The movement ends slowly transforms into a dance, a sign perhaps that the future has been altered and the planet saved?

REVISED VERSION In the Second movement, the Olympian Gods -- including Gaia herself -- hold an act of remembrance for the whole creation. The reverence in which they hold the Earth slowly gives way to anger at what man has done to the planet. However the anger of Gods is assuaged when the prayers of faithful call upon Zeus for help.

REVISED VERSION This is the first movement of my Gaian symphony. It begins with a message from the last man alive sometime in the future: the Earth is dead along with Gaia, the Olympian Goddess who created and sustained it. The sender of the message asks the Olympian Gods to remember Gaia, and slowly the music gives to a sense of wonder at all that she has achieved.