A suite inspired by poetry. Written by Bernadette Kellermann.

Poetry in Music - A Suite.

The Wild Iris / Oblivion 

Composed by Bernadette Kellermann

Inspired by the following poem by Luise Glueck:
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The Wild Iris 

At the end of my suffering 
There was a door. 

Hear my out: that which you can call death 
I remember. 

Overhead, noises, branches of the pine shifting. 
Then nothing. The weak sun
 Flickered over the dry surface. 

It is terrible to survive 
As consciousness 
Buried in the dark earth. 

Then it was over: that which you fear, being 
A soul and unable 
To speak, ending abruptly, the stiff earth 
Bending a little. And what I took to be 
Birds darting in low shrubs. 

You who do not remember
 Passage from the other world 
I tell you I could speak again: whatever 
Returns from oblivion returns 
To find a voice: 

From the center of my life came 
A great fountain, deep blue 
Shadows on azure seawater. 
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Performed by 

Bernadette Kellermann: Violin
Ian Dunnett: Piano

Recorded, mixed and mastered by Luigi Pasquini (HowToMakeSushi Recording) @ Electric Squirrel Studios, Glasgow.

The Wild Iris / Oblivion

The Waking

Composed by Bernadette Kellermann


Inspired by the following poem by Theodore Roethke:
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The Waking

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow. 
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear. 
I learn by going where I have to go. 

We think by feeling. What is there to know? 
I hear my being dance from ear to ear. 
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow. 

Of those so close beside me, which are you? 
God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there, 
And learn by going where I have to go. 

Light takes the Trees; but who can tell us how? 
The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;
 I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow. 

Great Nature has another thing to do 
To you and me; so take the lively air, 
And, lovely, learn by going where to go. 

This shaking keeps me steady. I should know. 
What falls away is always. And is near.
 I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow. 
I learn by going where I have to go. 
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Performed by 

Bernadette Kellermann: fiddle
Leona Evans: voice
The Brodick Quartet 
…Ben Norris: Violin 1 
…Katrina Lee: Violin 2
…Liam Brolly: Viola
…Alice Allen: Cello


Recorded, mixed and mastered by Luigi Pasquini (HowToMakeSushi Recording) @ Electric Squirrel Studios, Glasgow.

The Waking

Begin

Composed and performed by Bernadette Kellermann

Inspired by the following poem by Brendan Kennelly:
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Begin

Begin again to the summoning birds 
To the sight of light at the window, 
Begin to the roar of the morning traffic 
All along Pembroke Road. 
Every beginning is a promise Born in light and dying in dark 
Determination and exaltation of springtime 
Flowering the way to work. Begin to the pageant of queuing girls 
The arrogant loneliness of swans in the canal 
Bridges linking the past and future
 Old friends passing though with us still. 
Begin to the loneliness that cannot end
 Since it perhaps is what makes us begin, 
Begin to wonder at unknown faces 
At crying birds in the sudden rain
 At branches stark in the willing sunlight 
At seagulls foraging for bread 
At couples sharing a sunny secret 
Alone together while making good.
 Though we live in a world that dreams of ending 
That always seems about to give in 
Something that will not acknowledge conclusion 
Insists that we forever begin. 
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Recorded, mixed and mastered by Luigi Pasquini (HowToMakeSushi Recording) @ Electric Squirrel Studios, Glasgow.

Begin

Violin player and composer based in Glasgow, Scotland