In this Song Cycle premiere of Thomas Stearn’s ‘Where Light is a Thought’, five poems by Katharine Towers tell the story of a lone figure who walks from darkness into light. She leaves her home during the night and walks through woods and then onward into fields, encountering a holly tree and a robin. As dawn arrives the world slowly appears, each of its details acquiring colour and shape and, in some way, becoming real. The musical settings of the poems immerse the listener in the journey of the lone figure as she walks, stopping at various points to observe, listen and think.
Programme
Tom Stearn – Where light is a thought – Song Cycle Premiere with Teresa McKendrick (Mezzo-soprano), Iris Rea (Cello) and Alley Bridge-York (Harp)
Plus performances from:
Alley Bridge-York (Harp) & Charlie Hardwick (Cello)
Anna Appleby – From the River – Song Cycle performed by Teresa McKendrick (Mezzo-soprano) & Yang Guo (Piano)
From the River is a short song cycle woven from three poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning:
- A Musical Instrument
- How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnets from the Portugese 43)
- Go From Me (Sonnets from the Portugese 6
It begins with the creation of the poet: she is plucked from the riverbed by the mischievous god Pan and is carved into an instrument, losing her identity as one of the many reeds in the river. She falls in love, a feeling beyond anything she has felt before, and then loses her lover… yet keeps their heart in her own, a second pulse.
The piece was commissioned by Glyndebourne for the Jerwood Young Artists recital series while Anna was resident as a composer. It was premiered by Stephanie Wake-Edwards and Matthew Fletcher on the 11th August 2019 at Glyndebourne. The original song, ‘A Musical Instrument’ was the starting point for the cycle as it was created in July 2018 for Hull Urban Opera and Rosie Middleton. Glyndebourne commissioned the two following songs in July 2019.
