Excitement and anticipation build throughout this triumphant Palm Sunday anthem as the crowd waits in charged expectation for Jesus's arrival in Jerusalem. “Look in the distance!...What do you see?...I heard Messiah iscoming!...Could it be he?” Questions and speculations mount as the long-awaited Christ approaches. “I see it clear...He is here!” Harmony bursts out of the unison “wonderings” to announce the arrivalof Messiah. Blessed Is He is majestic yet dance-like inviting all to join the celebration. From Pepper Choplin's best-selling cantata Once Upon a Tree this electrifying processional is a must for Palm Sunday.

Premiered by The New York Philharmonic conducted by Lorin Maazel at Avery Fisher Hall Lincoln Center New York City 10th June 2004. Orchestration 3 Flutes 3rd dbl. Piccolo2 Oboes1 English Horn in F3 Clarinets in Bb 3rd dbl. Bas Clarinet in Bb2 Bassoons1 Contra Bassoon4 Horns in F3 Trumpets in Bb3 Trombones1 Tuba1 (set of) Timpani2 Percussion (two players)1: Bass Drum (large) Chinese Cymbal Mark Tree2: TamTam (large) Vibraphone Antique Cymbal1 Harp1 Piano dbl. CelestaStringsAll non-octave transposing instruments are notated in their relevanttranspositions.Horns notated in bass clef sound a fourth above the notated pitch.All accidentals apply to each single note only except tied notes. Naturals for 'safety'. Programme Note This piece marks the conclusion of what could now be called 'The Nightshade Trilogy' three pieces which explore the contrasting worlds of Light and Darkness. As opposed to the earlier chamber work Nightshade which dealt with extremes of high and low pitches and the chamber orchestra composition Second Nightshade a two-fold piece contrasting darkness/anxiety and light/calm Final Nightshade for full symphony orchestra takes us on a journey in which the forces of dark and light struggle - and co-exist - in a predominantly polyphonic web with brooding undertones. The melodic point-of-departure is not surprisingly to be found in either of the two preceding pieces of the Trilogy but in an older piece Corpus Cum Figuris from 1985. Over the ensuing years I've dreamt on and off of 'doing something' with the opening measures of this older work perhaps even building a new composition on that very simple inward-looking time was ripe and there's a nice nostalgia angle to the idea: Corpus Cum Figuris was the first piece of mine to be