From A Railway Carriage for SATB chorus (with divisions) and piano



The piece is a setting of the Scottish poet Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘From A Railway Carriage’.

The single movement work describes a series of fleeting moments as witnessed from a railway

carriage speeding through the countryside.The whimsical nature of Stevenson’s poem

conveys a sense of wonder, perhaps a child’s first train journey, taking in views of rolling countryside,

village life or stations whistling by. With the lilting rhythmic backdrop of the motion of the train,

fast busy music alternates with slower reflective sections evoking scenes that are merely glimpsed

then gone forever.



Nick Chamberlain



This work was developed for Glasgow Lyric Choir as part of the Adopt-a-Composer scheme,

funded by the PRSF and run by Sound and Music in association with Making Music.