On Earth as in Heaven (2017)
20 minutes
for SATB Chamber Choir
1. When The Heart
2. I Am Not Yours
3. God Help Us/There Will Be Rest
Commissioned by Christie Anderson and the Adelaide Chamber Singers.
Premiered by the Adelaide Chamber Singers at Pilgrim Uniting Church, Flinders Street, Adelaide August 26th, 2017 .
Conducted by Christie Anderson.
Texts by Michael Leunig and Sara Teasdale. Movements may be performed together as a set, or individually.
'On Earth as in Heaven' was a finalist in the 2018 Art Music Awards for Work of the year: Vocal/Choral, and earnt Anne Cawrse the State Award for Work of the Year.
20 minutes
for SATB Chamber Choir
1. When The Heart
2. I Am Not Yours
3. God Help Us/There Will Be Rest
Commissioned by Christie Anderson and the Adelaide Chamber Singers.
Premiered by the Adelaide Chamber Singers at Pilgrim Uniting Church, Flinders Street, Adelaide August 26th, 2017 .
Conducted by Christie Anderson.
Texts by Michael Leunig and Sara Teasdale. Movements may be performed together as a set, or individually.
'On Earth as in Heaven' was a finalist in the 2018 Art Music Awards for Work of the year: Vocal/Choral, and earnt Anne Cawrse the State Award for Work of the Year.
The title, On Earth As In Heaven, connects this set of songs with the notion of immanence - the divine manifest in the material, human world. Leunig goes as far as to call some of his poems 'Prayers', potentially offering words which sit more in 'heaven' than on 'earth'. But Leunig's stray dogs and singing birds (not to mention his 'direction finding duck') sit comfortably alongside Teasdale's snow-covered rooftops, shining stars and wind-blown candles. In both worlds and in all three songs, there is a sense of humanity moving forward in spite of the pain that inevitably comes with living. As the composer, charged with bringing these words to life with music, it is my hope that I have done justice to the honesty, vulnerability and intimate beauty of these texts.
Composed as a set of three songs, each song may also sit independently from the others. When The Heart is a (predominantly) 4-part SATB setting. I Am Not Yours requires SSAATTBB with mulitple divisi throughout. God Help Us/There Will Be Rest is predominantly SSATBarB with some further divisi.
Please contact Anne if you are interested in purchasing the full work or an individual movement for performance.
Composed as a set of three songs, each song may also sit independently from the others. When The Heart is a (predominantly) 4-part SATB setting. I Am Not Yours requires SSAATTBB with mulitple divisi throughout. God Help Us/There Will Be Rest is predominantly SSATBarB with some further divisi.
Please contact Anne if you are interested in purchasing the full work or an individual movement for performance.
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When the heart
Is cut or cracked or broken Do not clutch it Let the wound lie open Let the wind From the good old sea blow in To bathe the wound with salt And let it sting. Let a stray dog lick it Let a bird lean in the hole and sing A simple song like a tiny bell And let it ring - Michael Leunig |
I am not yours, not lost in you,
Not lost, although I long to be Lost as a candle lit at noon, Lost as a snowflake in the sea. You love me, and I find you still A spirit beautiful and bright, Yet I am I, who long to be Lost as a light is lost in light. Oh plunge me deep in love - put out My senses, leave me deaf and blind, Swept by the tempest of your love, A taper in a rushing wind. - Sara Teasdale |
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God help us
If our world should grow dark; And there is no way of seeing or knowing. Grant us courage and trust To touch and be touched To find our way onwards By feeling. AMEN -Michael Leunig |
There will be rest, and sure stars shining
Over the roof-tops crowned with snow, A reign of rest, serene forgetting, The music of stillness holy and low. I will make this world of my own devising Out of a dream in my lonely mind. I shall find the crystal of peace, - above me Stars I shall find. - Sara Teasdale |
REVIEWS
“…explores the manifestation of the divine in the material world with an imaginative and an achingly beautifu; musical soundscape.”
-Art Music Awards 2018: Judges comments
"It was a work that ran through several modes and touched on conflicting and ineffable emotions by turns: here a soloist sailing above air-like voices until all coalesced into a single sweeping tone, there an unexpected twist into multitudinous sounds of playful optimism.”
-Peter Krieg, The Adelaide Review
-Art Music Awards 2018: Judges comments
"It was a work that ran through several modes and touched on conflicting and ineffable emotions by turns: here a soloist sailing above air-like voices until all coalesced into a single sweeping tone, there an unexpected twist into multitudinous sounds of playful optimism.”
-Peter Krieg, The Adelaide Review