Phosphorescence - Soprano, Bass Clarinet & Piano (2023)

Programme Note:
Washed up on the bank of a river An Ghiorria lies still. Sweet balms of early-night cool the brook’s blunt touch as velvet ripples lap loose little spittles…then lost far down beneath the ebb.  
How many moments has the river run?  
How far to the eastern shore?  
How is life lived before the finish line? 

Phosphorescence is the fourth and final piece of Irlum Fluorphos: Iridescence, Luminescence and Fluorescence being the other three. 

Lyrics:
O, Soft, Silence 
Hold the glowing dawn: 
Moments of memory remote 
From the fold now 
Lilt as lights thrown aloft. 
Silence, O, Soft 
Below the boughs  
The brook sings its silted tune: 
Smooth white stones cast downstream 
Driftwood upon the foam.  
Soft, silence, O - 
Currents weave muddled reeds  
Along those sullied pools:  
Sudden stills the waters beat 
As Air escapes the day.   
__ 
Rheumy eyes, gummed shut. 
The sky a crease of fragile light. 
Onward the river flows 
Past its rusted shore. 
The iris dulls and stills again. 
Dew, now vapour cold, 
Demands another day’s rest. 
A motley coat o’peacock feathers 
Daubed upon the bank, quivering 
In the melancholy of mid-morning. 
Heavy clings the air’s skin’s mould. 
Aeosop’s odyssey now ended, 
The race must begin again - 
For another day follows the next 
And shall not repeat. 
__ 
Auricular above the horizon 
The Greywash churns unseen. 
Swiftly rises now the burning copse; 
Incandescent in joyous flames 
Of brilliant, searing light. 
Iridescent dreams of  
Luminescent serpents 
Writhing golden in perfect union. 
Fluorescent glows the mountain's heart: 
Phosphorescence floating mauve 
Against a deep blue sky: 
The Orchard burns anew.

Performers:
Helen Hancock - soprano
Christopher Moriarty - bass clarinet
Annalisa Monticelli - piano

Date Recorded : 30/9/23
Location : St.Anne's Church, Dublin

Phosphorescence - Soprano, Bass Clarinet & Piano (2023)

Christopher Moriarty
Clarinetist, Composer
Co-founder of Ensemble Getögon

Instagram : @ch_ri_sm