Work
4 Songs of Myth
for tenor and string quartet
About
This cycle began with the song 'Mahuika as a boy', which I composed for the publication 'Mythos: An audio-visual anthology of art by young New Zealanders'. I then expanded by choosing a collection of poems by Jackson McCarthy which spoke of myths, both real and imagined. I’ve always enjoyed Jackson’s poems for how imaginative they often are, and this cycle attempts to translate that sense of melancholy and whimsy. These songs use often very literal word-painting, such as the reality-blurring slides in the first movement, the Baroque-inspired major chord shifts of the second, and the folk-like cello line in the third. The 'storybook' opens and closes with the same chord, each tale like its own distinct chapter.
Contents note
- Double Mother
- Reverse Genesis
- The Lake
- Mahuika as a boy
Text note
Jackson McCarthy