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A Garland for Jane (2003) |
for soprano and orchestra
The three songs making up this collection were composed in 1988. They were left in a bottom drawer (so to speak) until the opportunity arose to present them to Jane Manning in an orchestrated version for her 65 th birthday in 2003, in which version she gave the first performance at The Warehouse in London.I have always felt inspired by the poetry of E. E. Cummings because of its universality of expression. The first person singular is hardly ever used and one can respond to resonances of multiple interpretation.1. these children seems to recall the Cantora of Donatello: ‘these children singing in stone…wound with stone flowers opening forever…’. I have used the meloody of the chanson l’Homme armé as a ‘ghost’ for the imagery, to reflect the unceasing weaving and singing of the stone children.2. This is the garden: Fleeting images of beauty through dark and light shadows are reflected in contrasting figurations in the music. 3. a wind has blown the rain away: This is a reflection on youthful love. The music attempts to characterise the impulsive contrasts of the poetry with muted textures.
© Edwin Roxburgh