The Day of the Singing Birds (1991)
This moving poem, echoing the Song of Songs, was written by a friend, the musician and writer Dennis Stoll, not long before his death in 1987. The accompaniment includes a flute part, but a version with piano alone is included for occasions when no flute is available.
Two Shakespeare songs (1992)
In "Winter" (from Love's Labours Lost) we picture the icy north wind as the storyteller. Outwardly she's cold and icy, frost glistening on her face, but inwardly she's full of fire, playful, humorous and thoroughly enjoying a nip at people's fingers and noses. "Where the bee sucks" (from The Tempest) reflects Ariel's feelings, a free spirit of light and air who, after years of imprisonment in the trunk of a tree, will be set free after his service to Prospero. As his release draws near, he breaks into delighted song and dance at the thought.
Listen to no. 2 (Camille van Lunen, sop., Wendy Hiscocks, pf.)
Elegy (1992)
The Elegy's anonymous poem, sometimes ascribed to the American Makah tribe, was given to the composer after the death of her friend and mother-in-law Trudl Howat. Trudl's spirit of light and adventure is well reflected in the verse, and in setting it to music the composer was able to express her own feelings of thanks and of fond farewell.
Bush Christmas (1993)
Composed for soprano Elizabeth Connell, this song was premiered in December 1993 at a Christmas Concert by Elizabeth Connell at London's Wigmore Hall. The poem, by Australian David Martin (b. Ludwig Detsinyi, is a famous evocation of the Australian bush at its hottest.
The Twenty-Ninth Bather (1995)
Composed in the tropical surroundings of Hong Kong, this song explores the text of a Whitman poem of a young woman observing young male bathers; it was premièred on 21 October 1996 by Naomi Itami and the composer, at a Guildford Book Festival concert called Seasons of Change.
Two Poems of Elisaveta Bagryana (1996–7)
"Kladenetsut" (The Well) is like a fable, relating a well dug by the poet in her youth to the wellspring of her poetry. The song was premièred on 21 October 1996 by Naomi Itami, accompanied by Roy Howat on viola, at a Guildford Book Festival concert called Seasons of Change. "Moe Sartse" (My Heart) is the poet's affectionate ode to her beating heart. The two songs were first performed together by Natalia Afeyan, accompanied by Dorothea Vogel, in London in December 1999. The songs are set in the original Bulgarian, whose rhythm and inflections are an essential part of the music. To this end the score gives the original text together with a translation to aid comprehension.
I Look Out and See… (1996–7)
This set of four songs resulted from a request by Keith Hempton to increase the rather small repertoire for bass voice. I have always loved the capacity for breadth in the bass voice, and this set of songs reflects that breadth in its choice of subjects. I Look Out and See takes a broad look at life and sees the funny, the tragic, lessons learnt, and the need for love. All these are viewed with compassion through the eyes of three poets, all great travellers with a love of learning and life. David Martin, who died in 1997, was born in Hungary and brought up in Berlin; his eventful life then took him to Holland, Israel, the Spanish civil war, Britain and India, before he moved to Australia in the 1950s. Walt Whitman, the famous 19th-century American poet, wrote on a large range of topics, some of them taboo at the time, with a directness that many people found (and still find) alarming. In the 1860s he visited and comforted wounded and dying soldiers (from both sides) in hospital during the American civil war (an interesting link to David Martin, who was a stretcher-bearer in the Spanish civil war). Rabindranath Tagore, the great Indian poet, left most of his writings in his native Bengali, but the (untitled) poem set here comes from a collection in English called Lover's gift.
Mother & Child (1999–2000)
These four songs can be accompanied by either clarinet and piano or clarinet and string orchestra (the clarinet part is the same in each case). An alternative piano accompaniment exists for occasions where no clarinet is available. The poems, from Rabindranath Tagore's collection The Crescent Moon, doubtless reflect life experiences, specially 'The Champa Flower' where one can imagine Rabindranath himself at play as a child (the poem refers to an Indian fairy tale in which children have been transformed into champa flowers). Having grown up in a cultured family, Tagore greatly enjoyed the frequent evenings of household storytelling when he was a child. 'Benediction' has the poet speaking to the new mother; in 'My Song' the mother sings to the child; and the last two are the child speaking or singing to the mother (with some dialogue at the end of 'The Champa Flower'). 'The End' is a beautiful and moving poem which retains its tenderness and dignity in the tragic face of infant mortality, a topic Tagore knew well from experience.
Wendy Hiscocks
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