Meditations

	Michael Berkeley: Meditations
		Scoring: String orchestra
		Duration: 14 minutes
		Meditations for strings is Michael Berkeley's first acknowledged orchestral work. It was written at the beginning of 1975, in response to a commission from Colin Mawby and the Westminster Cathedral String Orchestra, who gave the first performance. In 1977, the work won the Guinness Prize for Composition. The piece is called Meditations because its atmosphere is essentially contemplative, though the nature of the subject is far from being continuously passive. Another reason for the title is the inspiration behind the thematic material - though the actual melodies are original, they use rhythmic and melodic patterns suggested to Michael Berkeley by Gregorian chant, which he sang as a chorister at Westminster Cathedral.
		Selected recording: Label: Unicorn Catalogue Number: UNS 260 Released: 1979 (on LP only)