This was originally titled A Simple Andante, but has been revised and fingered by professional guitarist, Alison Smith, who gave its first performance at her recital in Plymouth in April, 2002. I had already dedicated this short piece to Alison, because one of her greatest musical attributes is the extremely expressive way she plays, which this piece needs, first and foremost. It does need, however, an excellent technique, and as such cannot be described as ’simple’. On hearing her perform it so successfully, I feel that our idea to rename it Autumn Embers very much captures the nostalgic sentiments within, and is hopefully an improvement on the original title! I have also provided a version with string accompaniment, with a, organ reduction as a separate piece, for any guitarist who just happens to have a string orchestra handy, or might like to use the piece in church.
Hopefully, Alison and I intend to simplify the writing somewhat, this summer, 2005, to make it available for a wider audience.