Thomas Hewitt-Jones

Excellence

Commissioned by the Somerset, England based charity, Churchill Music!, The Same Flame was inspired by Pierre de Coubertin's ideals of Olympism which gave rise to the modern Olympic and Paralympic values: Respect, Excellence, Friendship, Courage, Equality, Determination and Inspiration. These seven values are celebrated in five movements, so four of them had to double up - Friendship with Equality and Courage with Determination. Each movement is scored for slightly different choral forces, so the work is varied. Also individual movements may suit different choirs giving the opportunity for individual performance or collaboration between choirs. All five movements of The Same Flame are published as individual octavos. A complete vocal score is available on request from the publishers.'Excellence' makes the not always popular point that excellence is not achieved overnight, nor by accident. While spelling out the 'doggedness, diligence, discipline, [and] drudgery' that go into achieving 'poetry in motion', the song also celebrates the attainment of those who achieve excellence and comes to the inescapable conclusion that the 'unbegrudged drudgery' is worth it! The (sometime tongue-twisting) language is very colourful and engaging and, as the final movement of 'The Same Flame', the music is equally exciting and explosive.