Vocal

Cracked Voices (2017)

A song cycle exploring forgotten characters and stories from North Hertfordshire and South Cambridgeshire. Text by Graham Palmer, settings by Jenni Pinnock.

Instrumentation: Soprano, baritone, A/Bb/bass clarinet, piano
Duration: Roughly 1 hour 15 minutes

For more information on Cracked Voices see the Cracked Voices website. Cracked Voices has been supported by Arts Council’s Grants for the Arts and by the PRS Foundation’s Open Fund.

Song of the firebird (2015)

Text by Graham Palmer.
Instrumentation: Soprano and piano
Approx. 2 minutes in length.

Sparkling high piano clusters signal the beginning of the Song of the firebird, which tells the tale of a glorious creature. The predominantly pentatonic melody line highlights the beauty of Graham Palmer’s text, which grows alongside its piano accompaniment as the piece progresses. At the third stanza, the piano takes over the melody line, giving the soprano the chance to soar above it as the firebird rises, picking up momentum for the finale of its song.The dynamics in this piece are deliberately very sparse to allow the performers to create their own interpretation of the piece.

Bells in the Rain (2012)

Work for soprano and piano written in 2012.

Available in two versions: soprano and piano and soprano and ‘cello.

This settling of Elinor Wylie’s emotional poem concentrates two key emotive elements: the bells, and the rain, both of which are important concepts throughout the music. Constant falling motifs in the accompaniment work alongside the soprano’s carefully crafted lines as the rain storm gains strength and later fades as the piece progresses. Bell-like clusters punctuate the texture, while the music continues with a slightly uneasy edge as the listener is left to contemplate where the tale will turn to next.