The Snow Goose

Originally for flute and orchestra, Ritchie arranged the The Snow Goose for flute and piano following Alexa Still's 1995 recording of the work with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. The work takes its name from the central figure in Paul Gallico's classic story of the Second World War. Initially imbued with an uneasy peace, an extended solo for flute depicts the bird's flight and its serenity, to be interrupted by sounds of war and imminent tragedy. An accent of belatedness is caught and held perfectly. What we finally hear in the song of the snow goose is the saddest kind of love lyric, one which memorializes only a dream of happiness.