Catalogue no. 3031
Colour poems
Music: Richard Nye, Words: Charlotta Skule
Voicing: SSAATBB
Performance time approx: 5m 30s
Price code: D
Complexity:
Colour Poems was written for the Cheltenham Bach Choir (conductor Stephen Jackson), for their ‘Gloucestershire Composers’ concert in June 2006.
The piece is dedicated to the memory of two people who influenced my early musical life. John Sanders was choirmaster at Gloucester Cathedral whilst I was a chorister there and introduced me to a vast amount of fabulous choral music. Later, as I was leaving school to study music in London, the composer Tony Hewitt-Jones took the time to look at my early compositions, encouraging me to think about new ideas and structures. Both had strong connections with the Cheltenham Bach Choir, as do my parents, so it seemed very fitting, as well as a privilege, to contribute a piece to CBC’s repertoire.
The texts are four Haiku, a Japanese form in which (most commonly) a poem has three lines, with five syllables in the first line, seven in the second, and five in the third. They were written by Charlotta, then aged 10, for a school project in English at Dumpton School, Dorset.
White
reflection of snow
ghost of nothing echoes here
empty silence calm
Blue
tear blown in cold wind
rushing horizon of waves
light and flowing sky
Purple
thunderstorm roars clash
despair of the shy violet
just as the sun has set
Red
red hot blood of earth
volcano spurts the lava
roar smearing sunset
Text © Charlotta Skule and used with permission.