The Autumn Song is based on the various ancient Chinese poems and stories about the parting of lovers. Specifically, due to the male partner having to go and serve in the building or guarding of the Great Wall of China. The music evokes the melancholic character of loss – in particular, that quality of ambiguity caused by the fact that neither partner knows if the loss is temporary or permanent.
The piece was commissioned by Natalie Clein and Xuefei Yang who gave the first performance at the Macau Festival, China, on 13th October 2009. They gave the UK premiere at the Wigmore Hall, London, on 3rd February 2010. The flute and guitar version has been recorded by Susie Hodder-Williams and Graham Roberts on Northern Lights FMR Records © 2010 (FMRCD303-0311).
The Autumn Song is also available in a version for cello (or flute) and piano (DO 891).
Stephen Goss 2011
Most of Stephen Goss’s guitar compositions are known worldwide, and so are his other professional activities: playing, teaching, recording. Among the large number of his pieces commissioned by various artists and institutions, I find this duo piece for violoncello (or flute) and guitar particularly notable. The Autumn Song is a one-breath composition, so to speak, but structured in some seven different segments over a period of nine minutes. More or less all of them are in a medium-slow tempo, and all convey meditative peacefulness, lyricism, and reflectivity. Avery free interpretative approach is required throughout the work. As the composer explains in his program notes, The Autumn Song is inspired by a group of ancient Chinese poems and stories, texts that talk about the parting of lovers, and more specifically about the men who had to serve in the building or guarding of the Great Wall. Goss evokes the melancholic feelings of loss, heightened by the fact that neither male nor female partners knew if their separation would be temporary or permanent. Sometimes in this piece both instruments exhibit nearly complete independence. The guitar part is mostly based on broken chords and the resultant sonorities achieved through the overlapping sounds of many different strings. The Autumn Song is quite a complex composition but serves performers well; both its instrumental parts are notated clearly and all important performance indications are provided. Besides the full score, the edition also includes separate cello and flute parts.
-Uros Dojcinovic (Soundboard Magazine)
