MB1018
When day is done
Music: Michael Buck, Words: Ian Crichton Smith
Voicing: SATB
Performance time approx: 2m 00s
Range S: d' – g'' / A: b♭ – g' / T: d – c' / B: G – g
Price code: B
Complexity:
Iain Crichton Smith wrote prolifically both in Scottish Gaelic (his first language) and in English. In this sombre setting of a wonderful poem about sorrow, the dynamic and melodic rises and falls and slightly off-beat rhythms and repetitions skilfully suggest the gentle rocking of the old chair. A lovely piece for a quiet interlude in a programme.
Sorrow remembers us when day is done.
It sits in its old chair gently rocking
and singing tenderly in the evening.
It welcomes us home again after the day.
It is so old in its black silken dress,
its stick beside it carved with legends.
It tells its stories over and over again.
After a while we have to stop listening.
Iain Crichton Smith
Reproduced with permission from Carcanet Press Limited.