Lord of the Dance (an orchestral arrangement)


This orchestral arrangement is a version of my original choral arrangement [with organ] written for the funeral of Frank Alsop, at his widow's request. It was to be uplifting, and able to be rehearsed with a small choir in the half hour prior to the service, and with the congregation at the start of the service. It worked well! Frank would have loved to be able to have sung too, as he did in the Weymouth College Singers. This is where I came to know him - a wonderfully supportive man, immensely generous and full of fun. I discovered near the end of his life that he shared with me a close affinity with the Pembrokeshire coast, and he had a wonderful tale to tell about being on Skomer in one of the great gales. He had borrowed R.M.Lockley's boat which was in the little north facing haven, seemingly safe from the ravages of a southwesterly gale. But as he watched from the clifftop, the wind veered to the northwest, and Frank watched the growing swell gradually drag the anchored boat onto the rocks where it smashed to pieces. All that he had to return to R.M.Lockley was the cabin key! - which he didn't anyway. The last time I saw Frank he disappeared upstairs to return with this momento, and we all laughed.