Song Cycle for Baritone & Piano
(also available for Tenor; Mezzo Sop; and for chamber orchestra with tenor voice)
Instrumentation: Baritone & Piano; Tenor & Piano; Mezzo Soprano & Piano
Tenor & Chamber Orchestra arr 2011
2(picc);2(cor);2;2(contra);2;1;1;1;timp;perc (1); stgs
“The orchestration is accomplished. The vocal line distinguished”
Dr Geoffrey Alvarez / Alvarez Chamber Orchestra
Duration: 18 minutes
Date of Composition: 1990/92
Programme Note:
It was the striking imagery of nature and its power, the placing of man within such a spacious context, and the sense of the beautiful in the particular and the whole, that attracted me to these verses. They convey a spectacular world beyond the immediate, perceivable only through our human sensitivity, which at times can be up to the task but often is not. Furthermore, we are reminded of our own nature, and how we best bear ourselves in our lives, as we are always in comparison to the greater beauty of the world. Such sentiments as these, without recourse to Christian ideology, was the spur to write the music. The text of the first poem acts as a frame to the others, contrasting and complimenting them, no more effectively than in the evaporating mood of the last poem.
Performance:
Texts: Emily Dickenson:
The Red – Blaze – is the Morning
How happy is the little Stone
A Wind that rose
There is a pain – so utter –
I Saw no Way – The Heavens were stitched –
Great Streets of silence led away
As imperceptibly as Grief
Programme Note, further details of this work, and samples of pages of the music, are all available from the score.
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Epiphanies – Baritone and Piano (Computer realisation)