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"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".

Item Type:	Repeat Performance
Keywords:	music composition
Research Division:	Studies in Creative Arts and Writing
Research Group:	Performing Arts and Creative Writing
Research Field:	Music Composition
Objective Division:	Cultural Understanding
Objective Group:	Arts and Leisure
Objective Field:	The Performing Arts (incl. Theatre and Dance)
Author:	Grenfell, M (Dr Maria Grenfell)
ID Code:	106127
Year Published:	2013
Deposited By:	Tasmanian College of the Arts
Deposited On:	2016-01-30
Last Modified:	2016-02-03
Downloads:	0