Medium Voice & Piano
SKU: ST.Y291
Composed by Rhian Samuel.
Vocal music. Four songs
for medium voice and
piano to poems by Anne
Stevenson and Emily
Dickinson.. Vocal score.
Stainer & Bell Ltd.
#Y291. Published by
Stainer & Bell Ltd.
(ST.Y291).
ISBN
9790220223372.
CONT
ENTS
1. Blackbird
(Anne Stevenson) (b -
g)
2. The moon is
distant (Emily Dickinson)
(b - g sharp)
3. Bird
in hand (Anne Stevenson)
(e flat - g flat)
4.
On not being able to look
at the moon (Anne
Stevenson) (b - g)
For medium voice and
piano or ensemble of
flute, harp and string
quartet, Moon and
Birds is a
substantial cycle of
songs to words by Anne
Stevenson and Emily
Dickinson. Its sequence
of four settings,
'Blackbird', 'The moon is
distant' (Dickinson),
'Bird in hand' and 'On
not being able to look at
the moon' unfolds a
symmetrical structure of
contrasting yet
interlocking moods in
which the reflective
second and fourth
numbers, lunar visions of
mystic tranquillity
flawed by doubt and pain,
temper with human frailty
the bright epiphanies of
the first and third
songs.
There is
a fascinating challenge
here for the performer to
embrace both elation and
gravitas in a single
reading, Samuel's
vigorous musical
invention binding the
developing web of feeling
with its own formal
strengths and subtly
illustrative moments. In
the version for string
quartet, flute and harp,
first performed by
Contemporary Connections
on 4 November 2011 at St
James's Church
Piccadilly, the flute
takes a prominent role
throughout. Violins,
viola and cello at times
elaborate on the simpler
textures of the keyboard
version, though the two
scores remain entirely
compatible. The bluesy
harmonies of the
concluding number,
whether weighted by
sonorous string quartet
or profiled in edgier
piano chords, bring the
cycle to a sombre
conclusion with a proper
sense of an emotional
world traversed.
Emily Ann Imes
