When day is gone

About

This piece was composed in response to a commission from Auckland band conductor Peter Thomas. The brief was for a slow, chorale-like piece. Several months prior to my commencement of this piece, I was involved in the performance of a 1920s song called When Day Is Done (composer: Dr. Robert Katscher; lyricist: B.G De Sylva). It was a favourite song of renowned bandleader Paul Whiteman, who had had it played at his funeral. However, this sad, poignant song took on a similar resonance for me when I played it – the pianist in the band I performed it with had recently passed away. It was, needless to say, a terribly sad time for all of us, and this feeling lingered on for me to influence the composition of this piece, whose title alludes to the title of the song. Overall, this piece is about saying goodbye – another song to exert a mild influence was Bye Bye Blues (written by Fred Hamm/Dave Bennett/Bert Lown/Chaunccy), which comes from a similar era to When Day Is Done.