Photonen sings English poetry
Photonen Vocal Ensemble opts for poetry this spring. 'From the Heart of Joy' is a balanced a cappella program of English poetry, in varying styles, from renaissance to (late) romantic and contemporary music.
Photonen sings English poetry
The focus is on the sparkling Five Flower Songs by Benjamin Britten, which he wrote for the 25th wedding anniversary of friends of his, a botanist couple. The often ancient poetry in the songs is about nature, but a deeper layer comments on life and various aspects of marriage, sometimes with humor. From the renaissance, Photonen sings two beautifully melancholic madrigals: The Silver Swan by Orlando Gibbons and Weep, O mine eyes by John Bennet.
You will also hear a number of Shakespeare settings by the contemporary Finnish composer Jaakko Mäntyjärvi, such as Come Away, Death (Twelfth Night) and the exciting swirling Double, Double Toil and Trouble (MacBeth), as well as late-romantic interpretations of Shakespeare texts by the famous English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. Photonen also sings Silence and Music by him.
Sheer beauty is in Charles Villiers Stanford's The Bluebird, and other late romantic work on the program is by Elgar and Bairstow. A contemporary sound comes from America with Heart, Not so Heavy as Mine by Elliott Carter, on a text by Emily Dickinson.