Back in Manchester last week, my new, short piece, 'Blinding, Burning, Lovely,' for soprano voice, piano and string trio was premiered at the Royal Northern College of Music. It was fun to rehearse the piece with my friends who performed it. A big thanks goes to them for bringing it to life!
‘Blinding, Burning, Lovely’ is a setting of the poem ‘The Falling Star’ by Sara Teasdale (1884-1933). Throughout the piece, the soprano moves from a vernacular to a stylized manner of singing as the work expands and grows outwards from the first spoken word. The piece aims to create an atmospheric soundworld by the use of repeating iridescent harmonics textures underneath.
I saw a star slide down the sky,
Blinding the north as it went by,
Too burning and too quick to hold,
Too lovely to be bought or sold,
Good only to make wishes on
And then forever to be gone.
- Sara Teasdale
