For mezzo-soprano and ensemble, performed by the Chiasmus Ensemble.
Text is an anonymous Old Irish poem ('scél lem dúib').

I Have Tidings For You

For clarinet in B-flat, accordion, piano, viola and violoncello.

Programme Note:
Ildathach - ‘Ildathach’ (literally ‘many coloured’) is a poetic name for the early Irish ‘otherworld’, as described in the Old Irish tale ‘Immram Brain’ (c. 8th century A.D). The tale describes how Bran undertook a journey to the otherworld, a place which existed in parallel to the real world and which was often characterised by strange yet mysterious beauty. Time could pass differently in the otherworld, with days spent in the otherworld passing as either years or minutes in the real world. The piece is not a programmatic representation of the story. Instead, it uses the idea of different rates of time to explore and reimagine a single sound (a multiphonic on the clarinet’s lowest note) from different perspectives.

Ildathach

For mezzo-soprano, flute and electronics.

2 OLD IRISH POEMS

This electroacoustic composition is based on the Old English poem 'Wulf and Eadwacer'. All of the material is derived from spoken and sung samples of the original Old English text. The samples that have been used were performed by mezzo-soprano Lucie Louvrier.

Ungelīc Is Ūs

'Agnus Dei' for choir and Northumbrian smallpipes, performed by The Singers (Newcastle, UK) and Edmund Hunt (pipes). This piece was written to be used liturgically during a traditional music Mass. It is based on the traditional Northumbrian folksong 'Felton Lonnen'.

Agnus Dei - folk song arrangement

Mezzo-soprano and electronics. Text is an anonymous Old English poem. Performed by Lucie Louvrier. 

Translation:
It is as though someone gave a present to my people;
they want to oppress him if he comes with a troop,
We are apart.
Wolf is on an island, I on another.
That island is secure, surrounded by marshland.
There are cruel men on the island.
They want to oppress him if he comes with a troop.
We are apart.
I endured far-wandering hopes of my Wolf;
when it was rainy weather and I sat, mournful, 
then the one bold in battle laid his arms around me,
there was joy to me in that, but it was also hateful.
Wolf, my Wolf, my hopes of you caused me to fall sick,
your infrequent visits, a mourning spirit, not at all lack of food.
Do you hear, Eadwacer? Wolf carries our wretched whelp to the wood.
People easily may separate that which was never joined,
our song together.


We Are Apart; Our Song Together

Echtra (excerpt)

Mezzo-soprano and ensemble. Performed in 2010 by Lucie Louvrier and students from Birmingham Conservatoire. Text is an anonymous Old English riddle.

Translation:

I was a young girl, a grey-haired woman,
a beautiful warrior, at the same time;
I flew among birds, and I swam in the tide,
I dived under the wave, dead among fish,
and I stepped on the earth; I had a living spirit.


I Had A Living Spirit

Taliesin (opening - excerpt)

Phillipa Thomas (mezzo-soprano), BCSO, conducted by Edwin Roxburgh

Text - Old Norse, taken from 'Vǫluspá' (The Seeress's Prophecy')

Translation:

3.It was the beginning of time
when Ymir made a settlement,
there was no sand nor sea nor cool waves;
earth was nowhere nor the sky above,
the void was chaos, grass was there nowhere.

44. Garm bays loudly before Gnipa-cave,
the rope will break and the ravener run free,
much wisdom she knows, I see further ahead
to the terrible doom of the fighting gods.

57. The sun turns black, earth sinks into the sea,
the bright stars vanish from the sky;
steam rises up in the conflagration,
a high flame plays against heaven itself.

59. She sees, coming up a second time,
Earth from the ocean, eternally green;
the waterfall plunges, an eagle soars over it,
hunting fish on the mountain.


Ginnungagap

Performed by Thumb ensemble, conducted by Dan Watson.
http://www.thisisthumb.co.uk

Text: an Old English charm against a wen.

Translation: 

O wen, o wen, o little wennikins,
Here shall you not build, here have no abode, 
But you must go northwards to the nearby hill, 
for there, o wretched one, you have a brother, 
And he shall lay a leaf upon your head.
Under wolf’s foot and under eagle’s wing, 
under eagle’s claw may you always wither. 
May you decrease like coal upon the hearth, 
Shrivel away like dirt upon the wall, 
Evaporate like water in a pail,
Become as little as a linseed grain,
Much smaller than a hand-worm’s hip-bone, 
And so diminish that you become nothing.

A Charm

Lokasenna

For viola and accordion, performed by Diphonon Duo in Northern Ireland.

The Wave Bright Well

A live recording of the first 7 minutes of 'The Lament of the Last Survivor', performed by Edmund Hunt.

Lament Of The Last Survivor - Excerpt

Edmund Hunt is a British composer. His work has been played in the UK and abroad by ensembles including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Psappha, The Royal Northern Sinfonia, Birmingham Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra, CHROMA, BCMG, ICARUS Vocal Ensemble, The Curious Chamber Players and CoMA (Contemporary Music for All). 

Edmund has an MA from the University of Cambridge and an MMus from Newcastle University. He completed a PhD in musical composition at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, where he studied with Edwin Roxburgh, Richard Causton and Simon Hall.

Much of Edmund’s music is inspired by the early medieval literature of northern Europe, and his PhD explored this area through the creation of vocal, instrumental and electronic works.

Edmund_Hunt

Popular tracks