H90 Voice of the Fool (2019)
First performed by Amy Harman at Maida Vale studios for later Broadcast by BBC Radio 3 on 23 September 2021.
Instrumentation: Bassoon
Duration: 6’
Programme note:
Written in the summer of 2019 in the south of Spain, my bassoon solo, ‘Voice of the Fool’ takes its name from an etching by the British artist, Cecil Collins. Collins identified the fool with the artist and the poet, who as he himself put it, signifies “the eternal virginity of spirit, which in the dark winter of the world, continually proclaims the existence of a new life, gives faithful promise of the spring of an invisible Kingdom, and the coming of light”. The piece begins in a kind of dark, shadow world and slowly rises, finding its own voice as it reaches its end. The piece is approximately six minutes long and is dedicated to Amy Harman who I heard play in my wind quintet, ‘bagatelarañas’ at the Aldeburgh Festival in 2018 and couldn’t quite believe the beautiful sound she made.
SH
31 March 2021