Programme noteI had wanted to work with the poetry of William Carlos Williams for some time, and found Love Song (1917) to resonate well with some of the musical ideas I had in mind for EXAUDI. Williams’ poem expresses an experience of love, with its coexistent hazy confusion and moments of clarity, filtered through his keen observational gaze upon the natural world, and is bookended by powerful addresses to the second person:

I lie here thinking of you:–
…
you far off there under
the wine-red selvage of the west!

I used some found musical material from J.S. Bach and Robert Schumann: stretching, repeating, and layering the melodies to examine relationships between them and between the six different voices.

Performances13-05-2024: EXAUDI Vocal Ensemble cond. James Weeks, Milton Court Concert Hall (UK) as part of a Guildhall MMus composers’ showcase