concord (noun): from Latin concordia, from con - ‘together’ + cor, cord - ‘heart’.

 

Sixty years ago science fiction commonly suggested that by this time humanity would have progressed to the point that famine, inequality, war and wilful ignorance would have been eliminated and we would be living in peace, prosperity and universally shared purpose. This century has been a great disappointment.

 

Music has little power to affect societal change but does have the power to remind us of the value of sharing and collaborative effort, of the overwhelming commonalities in our dreams and experiences, and of the things that unite rather than divide us.

 

I don’t propose blind optimism as an antidote to the horrors that confront us daily, but by concentrating on symmetry and consonance in this composition I hope to remind its listeners of the more positive achievements of our species. May this small contribution to the common good unite more than it divides.

 

Carl Vine - April 2022