Before the Cross and Don't Doubt Him Now - Cornet and Piano

This meditation for cornet and piano is based on a song that is both simple and reflective in its mood and structure. Accordingly, the manner of performance should be one of simplicity, without any hint of excessive rubato or additional expressive means, the expression is in the music itself!

However, the solo part is neither simple (in the technical sense) nor without musical challenge. Beauty of tone should be aimed for, but again not through excessive vibrato or other manufactured devices. Control of phrasing and line is important and in this regards the soloist should imagine that the melody is in one long phrase.

Written at the request of David Daws, for his solo album, The Sound of David Daws, this meditation uses the composer's own song, Before the Cross (The Musical Salvationist, April 1965), the first lines of which are: ‘Before the cross I stand in fear and wonder, and see that all my sins on thee are laid’ (text by Peter Cooke). This song was penned at an early stage of the composer's career, just before he commenced studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

The song Don't Doubt Him Now by Major Leonard Ballantine, originally written for female voices, was published in The Musical Salvationist in July 1990. This arrangement comes from Craig Woodland of the London Citadel Corps in Ontario, Canada.