The contrasts of life create the drama which can drive us forward to fulfilment – or knock us off our perches indefinitely. In November I had the chance to present a beautiful program with my intensely talented friends, Ben Opie (oboe) and Kim Worley (cello), which was a meditation upon our universal journey. “Music, as ever a bridge between the human and the divine, can give us a lens through which to examine our eternal paradox.”
I felt that the poetry of Blake was a good starting point for this concert, and his “Songs of Innocence” and “Songs of Experience” helped us weave together music from Bach to Britten, with Vaughan Williams’ “Ten Blake Songs” as the centrepiece.
Working with Ben and Kim in that small chamber ensemble format was a total blast. Consummate musicians and hilarious gentlemen, both! It was a treat to sing with the oboe and with the cello as they are both instruments which are sympathetic to and redolent of the human voice, so the resulting sound was rarely heard and sublime – a good vehicle for our existential program! I loved being able to weave in and out, having our colours blend into one another.
“He who binds to himself a Joy
Doth the wingéd life destroy
But he who kisses the Joy as it flies
Lives in Eternity’s sunrise.” – Blake
I felt that the poetry of Blake was a good starting point for this concert, and his “Songs of Innocence” and “Songs of Experience” helped us weave together music from Bach to Britten, with Vaughan Williams’ “Ten Blake Songs” as the centrepiece.
Working with Ben and Kim in that small chamber ensemble format was a total blast. Consummate musicians and hilarious gentlemen, both! It was a treat to sing with the oboe and with the cello as they are both instruments which are sympathetic to and redolent of the human voice, so the resulting sound was rarely heard and sublime – a good vehicle for our existential program! I loved being able to weave in and out, having our colours blend into one another.
“He who binds to himself a Joy
Doth the wingéd life destroy
But he who kisses the Joy as it flies
Lives in Eternity’s sunrise.” – Blake
