In my Circle in the Square performance project, one
of the primary problems addressed is the fragmentation
of poetry and music. In the view explored here, poetry
and music form a kind of necessary unity—that is to
say that they cannot survive let alone flourish without
one another. Yet only a cursory look at contemporary
practice reveals that poetry and music exist in largely
separate worlds, rarely crossing borders or showing any
kind of what I suppose academics might call
interdisciplinary interest. Poets in the English speaking
world publish their work in written form, largely for
other poets. And New Music composers in both
Europe and America publish their work by means of
recordings, and, in a remarkably parallel way, largely
for other composers or new music specialists.
Given the tremendous difficulty of understanding
the origins of this kind of cultural fragmentation,
which is so characteristic of Western society at
present, I think it is best to be simple and direct
in one’s approach. By this I mean: Place both poetry
and music under one roof, so to speak, like two
parties of a loving relationship who have somehow
become estranged from one another, and simply
make sure they stay there. In other words:
Do poetry; Do music—and then—do them always
together. In concerts; in presentations of every
description; and in one’s own work as an artist.
The key thing is that they remain together, and that
along the way, we become aware of I would argue
not so much new ways of unifying them, but rather
new ways of looking at their shared,
common source.
It is in this spirit that I’ve undertaken the composition
of a number of new song cycles. The Shepherd’s Purse—
for soprano, oboe and harp, is the second of these.
| go to Intro: The Shepherd’s Purse, for materials
and performance models, etc. |