Edward McGuire

Programme Note

For a suite based on paintings from the Fleming Collection : Junk Shop Blues is inspired by Joan Eardley's 'Rag and Bone Shop'.

I knew 'rag and bone shops' as 'junk shops' and became fascinated by them on visits (at first with my mother) in 1950's Glasgow. With a hint of jig rhythm, the Glasgow jazz revival of the time and brief references to three street songs, here is a symphonic study inspired by Joan Eardley's watercolour of the same period.
She moved to Glasgow at the start of the second world war - with her mother - to study at the Glasgow School of Art and her depictions of post-war urban life parallel my own efforts in such works as "A Glasgow Symphony".