This was the first decent piece of music I had written for about
three years. The three years prior to that barren patch, had seen an
explosion in creativity, which resulted in (amongst other things)
nine symphonies. Due to various reasons, you could say I then
suffered from "Burn Out". Fortunately I joined Chiltern Church in
Sutton, Surrey, UK, which accepted me as I was, imagination and all
and about a year later, after a couple or churchy songs, I wrote
this.
The first song to be written was Gethsemane, and it was the idea
behind this that acted for the slant the production took, in that it
concentrated on the emotions of those involved at the time.
The choir that performed this, was a scratch one as Chiltern
doesn't have a regular choir. This meant that the music had to be
kept fairly simple, hence no official part singing, although if a
member felt they could harmonise the tune, then I let them do it.
The only stipulation being that they harmonised in the same key as I
was playing.
Rehearsals started six weeks before Easter 1995, I finished
writing it three weeks later.
At the risk of sounding like an Oscar winner, there are many
people who I'd like to thank. There is no point listing their names,
because unless you know me, you will have no idea who they are. But
just in case anyone ever reads this, I would name Val Theo for her
encouragement, and Susan Atkins, the assistant pastor at the time,
whose idea it was for me to "write something for Easter". So I did,
and this is the result
Lyrics to be posted shortly.