David Borrill

‘Sounds in the silent air’ takes it title from a song by Ivor Gurney (1890 –1937). He was one of a number of English composers who fought in the First World War, alongside Arthur Bliss and Ralph Vaughan Williams. How did their experience affect the music they wrote and what impact did it have on their creative soul? This eBook reflects on these issues.

Selected works by Gurney, Bliss and Vaughan Williams will be contrasted with music from composers of an earlier generation including Stanford, Parry and Elgar.
The text includes musical examples and selected recordings for the reader to explore the pieces further.

The First World War in many ways changed the Britain for ever; read in ‘Sounds in silent air’ whether English music would ever be the same again.