Wine of Peace

Charles Camilleri (7 September 1931 – 3 January 2009) was a Maltese composer, who had long been acknowledged as Malta's national composer. He was born in Ħamrun and, as a teenager, had already composed a number of works based on folk music and legends of his native Malta. He moved from his early influences by Maltese folk music to a musical form "in which nothing is fixed and his compositions evolve from themselves with a sense of fluency and inevitability". He composed over 100 works for orchestra, chamber ensemble, voice and solo instruments. Camilleri's work has been performed throughout the world and his research of folk music and improvisation, the influences of the sounds of Africa and Asia, together with the academic study of European music, helped him create a "universal" style. Camilleri is recognized as one of the major composers of his generation. His works include the now famous Malta Suite, Maltese Dances, A Maltese Overture - Din l-Art Helwa, operas in Maltese, a ballet based on the Knights of Malta and the oratorio Pawlu ta' Malta. His piano piece Cantilena, is currently part of the Grade 5 Trinity Guildhall piano syllabus. The Missa Mundi for solo organ was described by its first publisher as "the organ's Rite of Spring". He died on 3 January 2009 at the age of 77. His funeral took place two days later at Naxxar, his long-time town of residence.

"Wine of Peace" dates from 1976 and was published by Roberton. It is a long, sustained melody, over slow pedal points and "hanging" chords. I guess you could call this "new-age" music. My wife says that it would work well on Soundscapes... ;-)

I used Swell strings and flute with super coupler and tremulant for the left hand, and the Solo Flute Harmonique with tremulant, later coupled to the Choir Harmonic flute with tremulant for the melody. There is a lot of "independent" use of the Swell and Solo expression boxes, as I tried to find the "surge" and "relax" spots in the piece.