Name: BE THE SEA CONVERSATIONS 2023 by BetheSea
Duration: 24 min 20 s
Description: Conversations between BE THE SEA workshop participants, heard from the perspective of the land and from the perspective of the Rockpool.

A one-hour recording made for SLACKS radio from the creators of the BE THE SEA project, featuring a guided virtual coastal meditation that uses body-centred listening and deep listening techniques.

Meditation

BE THE SEA Meditation

Conversations between BE THE SEA workshop participants, heard from the perspective of the land and from the perspective of the Rockpool.

BE THE SEA CONVERSATIONS 2023

Performed on Saturday 4th November by Christopher O’Gorman (TENOR) & David Pipe (PIANO) at Late Music Concerts, York. Programme curated by Professor John Goodby and Associate Professor David Lancaster called 'Singing Dylan Thomas:
I sang in my chains like the sea'.



Ilex or holly is a woody evergreen shrub associated with unconditional love, wise decisions, immortality, tenacity of life, and cycles of growth. Often used as part of Christmas decorations as a symbol of Christ’s crown of thorns and the crimson berries as a symbol of his blood, is used at this time to remind Christians of death and rebirth. In the spring, holly has white four-petaled flowers which could be it’s ‘snowy breast’, a symbol of hope and purity. (HJ)

You hold the ilex by its stem
And touch its petals one by one;
You make them glad and tender them
With lifted fingers to the sun.

The flower will not join the sky;
It was the oracle that told
You how the stem and leaves should lie,
Stem close to white, and leaf to gold.

And now the sun denies it rest,
You will have tears to carry bearer.

The ilex has a snowy breast;
There is not any flower fairer.

Recorded by Jude Clark

You Hold The Ilex By Its Stem (WP)

1. Raasay Lament ' Cumha Mhic' ille Chalum'
2. Water Kelpie Call ' Each-uisge'
3. Fairy Music ' Ceol-Brutha'
4. In Hebrid Seas ' Heman Dubh'
5. The Wild Swan ' Eala fo león'
6. A Tiree Tragedy ' Mo Nighean donn a Cornaig'

A note from the composer:
These pieces are a tribute to Harrison Birtwistle's time on the Hebridean island, Raasay, and followed a similar form to his famous Duets for Storab written for two flutes in 1 983. Birtwistle's original six duets were inspired by the legend of Storab, a Viking prince, who was shipwrecked and sought refuge on the island of Raasay.

This short collection of duets for Eb or Bb clarinets set snippets of Hebridean folk melodies which were carefully transcribed by Marjory Kennedy-Fraser in 1909, and which she dedicated 'To the women of the Hebrides, who were not only skilled in the spinning and weaving of fine linen and in the curious arts of the dyer, but who sang at their work.' Kennedy-Frasers work attempted to preserve and restore some of these songs, and here, I am acknowledging them and developing them anew. I have specifically chosen folk melodies that have links to the island of Raasay, or have themes of mythology or nature, as these themes are strong in my own work.

Raasay Duets (WP)

Composed 2022-2023, The Sound of the River takes its title from a poem by the Japanese poet Ryokan (1758 – 1831):

Midautumn – the wind and rain are at their most melancholy.
A wanderer, my spirit is inseparable from this difficult road. 
During the long night, dreams float from the pillow – 
Awake suddenly, I have mistaken the sound of the river for the voice of the rain.

It has become a companion piece to a work I wrote in 1978 for small ensemble (Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Vibraphone, Harp, 2 Pianos), The Voice of the Rain, and while it is dissimilar in many ways it borrows, develops and simplifies concepts from that piece, in particular the constantly flowing background piano line.

BE THE SEA CONVERSATIONS 2023

BetheSea

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