Work
The Secret
for mezzo-soprano and piano
Films, Audio & Samples
About
'The Secret’ is one of the poems in Katherine Mansfield’s collection of poems written from 1911-1913. It speaks of a ‘rainbow shell’ to be found in ‘the profoundest ocean’ and this colourful shell has always been there silently singing whether the water is stormy or quiet. Peter Adams’s music has gentle ripples of upward semiquavers in the piano in a simple setting where the piano symbolizes the water and the voice ‘sings’. The rippling semiquaver figure is turned upside down in a section in 7/8 time where the music gains a little momentum before ending as it began in simle timeless modality.
Commissioned note
Commissioned for ‘Child of the Sun’ — A Celebration of Katherine Mansfield in Song
Text note
Text by Katherine Mansfield