Over the course of 2015-2016 I collaborated with my friend and colleague William Cole on a new work for solo harp. It was a massive undertaking for us both, and we finally managed to record the new work around 8 months after starting out! You can now find the video on the ‘Media’ page, and on Youtube, or just by clicking here.
I gave the première in the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham in February 2016, and have since played it in various performances, including in my recital of British contemporary music at the Thailand International Harp Festival in Bangkok in August 2016. This recording was made in the David Josefowitz Recital Hall at the Royal Academy of Music, and was engineered by Daniel Ehrlich.
The piece is inspired by a song by John Dowland, the lyrics of which are as follows:
I saw my lady weep,
And Sorrow proud to be advanced so,
In those fair eyes where all perfections keep.
Her face was full of woe,
But such a woe (believe me) as wins more hearts,
Than Mirth can do with her enticing parts.
The composer William Cole says this about his piece:
‘This piece is inspired by my interest in the creativity and flexibility of continuo realisations in Renaissance and Baroque music. At the opening, archetypal continuo gestures – trills, arpeggios and an ‘English cadence’ are heard alongside a four-note cell from the eponymous line of Dowland’s song. After this music gradually spins out the opening material, and eventually flies out of control. The Dowland is then heard, with the first section’s gestures now wrapping around the melody as a genuine continuo accompaniment.’
No comments