Eardstapa
Soprano with string quartet
Premiered by: Louise Mcclelland Jacobsen and Novo Quartet
12th March 2019 ;
Pulsar Festival, Copenhagen
Upcoming: version for soprano with string orchestra
Excerpt:
Nightshadows deepen
in this earthly Kingdom
Therefore I cannot think why
throughout the world
my mind should not grow dark.
Falling snowstorm binds the earth,
the noise of winter
familiar utterances,
Fate is inexorable.
Eardstapa - premiere and recording at Pulsar Festival. March 2019
Pictured left to right: conductor Vincent Hardaker, Novo Quartet, Louise Mcclelland Jacobsen, Kirsten Milenko
Performance Note:
The soprano is the lowest point, with the strings forming a cloud-like dissipation of sound. Unsettled between two worlds, the vocal line flitters between states of observation and reflection while the string lines form clarity and decay. Text is sourced from an anonymous poem in the Book of Exeter.