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A Feather of Blue

performance
posted on 2023-05-25, 09:34 authored by Maria GrenfellMaria Grenfell
"A Feather of Blue "takes its title from a phrase in a poem called “A View From A Window” by New Zealand writer Kevin Ireland. I have always admired the wry humour and brightness of Kevin Ireland’s writing and many years ago set three of his poems for soprano and mixed ensemble. As a kind gesture Mr Ireland sent me a copy of his book of poems “Skinning A Fish”, and I was particularly struck by the imagery of colours, flowers, feathers and birds in this poem, which illustrates rain pouring down a window pane and giving way to a burst of sunshine after a storm. The piece uses a melody that I derived from a chant and originally used in an earlier piece but felt it was more suited to the piano trio combination in this work. The expansive melody appears in a somewhat fragmented form at first, giving way to a livelier section where the cello plays guitar-like chords alongside an isorhythmic exchange between violin and piano. The music builds up to a virtuosic climax before sighing with relief and a return to the opening textures. "A Feather of Blue" was commissioned in 2000 by the New Zealand Trio, and is recorded on their album “Spark”.

History

Medium

Chamber music

Department/School

School of Creative Arts and Media

Publisher

Self

Extent

9

Event Venue

Cole Concert Hall, Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, Texas, USAS

Date of Event (Start Date)

2013-09-05

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Music

Usage metrics

    Non-traditional research outputs

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