Four A. A. Milne Songs (1991)


Soprano and piano                                                                                                          

Texts:  

Daffodowndilly                  Spring Morning
The Mirror ( all from ‘When we were very young’ )
Buttercup Days ( from ‘ Now we are six’ )

Duration c. 8 mins

 

 

…thinking about infinity… (1993)

Mezzo-soprano and piano


Text: Extract from ‘Postcards from the Edge’ by Carrie Fisher

Duration c. 6 mins

First performed: Katie McGlew, Michael Spencer. Glasgow University Concert Hall 3/6/94

 

No Sad Songs (1994)

Mezzo-soprano and piano
Text: Poem ‘When I am dead, my dearest’ by Christina Rossetti (1830–1894)

Duration c. 6 mins

English Poetry and Song Society Award 1994

First Performed: Georgina Colwell, Nigel Foster. Holburne Museum, Bath 23/9/94

 

Carpe Diem (1995)

Baritone and piano


Text: Poem ‘Carpe Diem’ by Henry Thoreau

Duration c. 5 mins

Commissioned by Pete Stollery/Twentieth Century Music Ensemble, Northern College, Aberdeen

First performed: Simon Hart (baritone), Pete Stollery (piano). The Lemon Tree, Aberdeen 11/06/95

 

Incantation (1996)

Baritone and piano


Text: Song of Self-Introduction to the Land

Duration c. 5 mins

Commissioned by Steven Griffin

First performed: Steven Griffin, Richard Lewis. St. John's Church, Edinburgh 31/8/96

 

Three Pieces for Soprano and Clarinet:

Beautiful Feathered Tyrant - Duologue - Past Sula Sgeir (2015)

Soprano and Clarinet

Text: Poems by Jane McKie and Stewart Sanderson

Duration c. 14 minutes ( Movements can be also be performed separately: 4 mins /3 mins / 7 mins )

Commissioned by Frances Cooper and Joanna Nicholson as part of the multi-media project 'Turning The Elements'.

First performed 25/10/15 in Migvie Church, Tarland, Aberdeenshire, by Frances Cooper and Joanna Nicholson, as part of the Sound Festival. This is an ongoing project which we plan to tour in various venues around Scotland with a view to bringing the creative arts to unusual venues and communities keen to expand their cultural events locally. Subsequent performances in Jedburgh, for Book Week Scotland, Oct 2015 and in March 2016 at StAnza (St. Andrews International Poetry Festival).

Visit our blog:

https://turningtheelements.wordpress.com/

Review:
The first was Rebecca Rowe who had set words by both Jane McKie and Stewart Sanderson with a wordless vocalise in the middle. In the first song, Beautiful Feathered Tyrant, Frances Cooper assumed the voice of a bird while Joanna Nicholson’s clarinet seemed to illustrate the antics of the bird. The pictures of ice that accompanied the central vocalise seemed apposite while in the final song, Past Sula Sgeir, Rebecca Rowe’s setting of poetry by Stewart Sanderson, the full range of the clarinet was exploited as Joanna Nicholson decorated Frances Cooper’s smoothly sustained vocal line with a marvellously lithe and limber clarinet part.

Listen to a performance below: