SKU: ST.Y272

ISBN 9790220222849.

1. Arrival Dream
2. Snow Squalls
3. It Happens
4. East Wind
5. A Clearer Memory

The contrasting aspects of nature are a major theme in the work of Rhian Samuel, and in her song cycle Spring Diary for baritone and piano she responds passionately to its vernal magic.

Beginning in dream and ending in memory, the five movements of the collection are a dramatic response to the turning season in Wales, conveyed through the fine detail of its characteristic weather and landscape as observed by the poet Anne Stevenson.

Premiered at London's City University, Spring Diary is excellent material for graduate singers and pianists, who will draw inspiration from its vivid and assured word-setting and substantial and evocative keyboard part.

SKU: ST.Y230

ISBN 9790220221736.

Commissioned with Arts Council of Wales funds by the School of European Studies, Cardiff University, for the centenary celebrations of Samuel Beckett's birth, The Flowing Sand is a setting of five poems by this seminal 20th-century modernist that are unified as a song-cycle by meaningful contrasts of mood and of musical style. The movements are 'what would I do', 'my way is in the sand', 'Da Tagte Es', 'Roundelay' and 'saying it again'. Artistically challenging, yet well within the technical range of enterprising conservatoire students, The Flowing Sand is a major addition to the repertoire of contemporary art-song by British composers, and a significant contribution to the celebrations of the writer's anniversary year.