Brian Wright : In Memoriam Kenneth Allsop (2023) | Gabriele Natilla, guitar

The year 2023 marks fifty years since the death of Kenneth Allsop. Although best known as a television presenter and writer, his passion, the passion that sustained him for so much of his life and eventually contributed to his suicide, was the natural world. He had a particular love for birds but he was fascinated by, and dreadfully frightened for, all living nature. He increasingly used his public profile to campaign, often angrily, against the despoilers of all things natural.
The Kenneth Allsop Memorial Trust was formed to perpetuate the memory of this man and, to that end, in 1976 bought the island of Steepholm in the Bristol Channel. To honour his memory the Trust seeks to preserve and enhance the island’s natural beauty and landscape, together with its antiquities, wildlife and scientific interest, for everyone to enjoy.

https://www.steepholm.online

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«Kenneth Allsop lived, worked and died at his home in West Milton, Dorset and so I have chosen a Dorset folksong as the basis for my composition. The song is called "One night as I lay on my bed", it was collected by H.E.D. Hammond after hearing it sung by Mrs. Russell of Upwey, Dorset in 1907. Between the three statements of the theme I have used a Leitmotif based on the call of a Cuckoo; this motive is used in the 13th century song "Sumer is icumen in", I thought that this connection would help to reinforce the connection between Kenneth Allsop and the natural world, as well as marking his death on the 23rd of May and the beginning of summer.
Lastly, I chose to write the piece for the guitar as Julian Bream was a neighbour of Kenneth Allsop; Bream's BBC interview  by  Kenneth Allsop was one of the best I have seen, searching questions and thoughtful answers. Julian played at Allsop's funeral, it was described as "memorable"».

Brian Wright

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Gabriele Natilla, guitar
Recorded in Paris in April 2023
https://gabrielenatilla.wixsite.com/a...