My move to the Norfolk Broads in 2005 certainly influenced my outlook and my music. The large, open skies, the uncluttered landscapes and the abundance of water have had an almost purifying effect and the Three Broadland Preludes unwittingly seem to reflect this. Ranworth is one of the most tranquil villages in the area and its Broad is a nature reserve, unavailable to holiday cruisers. This prelude was born after my first visit to the Broad on a hazy summer day in August 2007. Fenside is another quiet area next to the village of Catfield, near Barton Broad. With this piece, I contemplate the farmland stretching as far as the eye can see, the smell of coal fires in the village in the winter, and the tower of Catfield church silhouetted against a dreamy, deep-orange sunset. In the autumn of 2007, the Norfolk artist David Dane put on an exhibition of his work at the Broadland Wildlife Centre. For the occasion, he painted a picture entitled Remembrance; I wrote a piece with the same name, and performed the premiere at the exhibition on Remembrance Day. The painting’s theme is one of the old wherries which carried cargo along the waterways, and this is the image in my mind as the tall, majestic sails are made full by the sea air.

from notes by Patrick Hawes © 2009