The Painter's Eyefive poems specially written by Alexander McCall Smith, set for SATB a cappella with divisi."A particular strength that marks Cunningham’s settings is the way in which the music boosts rather than obstructs the understanding of the texts", Alan Cooper, Press & Journal, December 2009. "Pleased to report an incredibly successful performance of your fantastic work...audience and choir and conductor thrilled", Halle Youth Choir, July 2010. Alexander McCall Smith writes: It is always thrilling, when visiting an art gallery, to find a painting that one already knows. And it is interesting to watch the reaction of other visitors to the painting when they come into the room and see it. Do this in the Uffizi in Florence, and see the delight on people’s faces when they see The Birth of Venus for the first time, in the flesh. The Painter’s Eye is an attempt to capture the thoughts that might go through the mind on seeing these five very well-known paintings. What did the artist have in mind? What does this great image mean to us now? That is the wonderful thing about great art: its capacity to engender reflection and fantasies well beyond what is actually on the canvas. You can see each painting by clicking on its title below.
The
musical language I have used is inspired by the poems and their
contexts. Tower of
Babel illustrates the transition
from a
single, universal language to an increasingly chaotic babble.
The Skating Minister is
adapted from the popular Skaters’ Waltz
and is the only number where the words were written to fit the music,
rather
than the music to fit the words. The first performances were on 13-15 March 2009, by Cappella
Nova in Dumfries, Dundee and Glasgow. The five songs are published and sold by Goodmusic/Roberton. You can see the whole score and hear it played on your computer on their
website. A recording by Laudibus is available on Delphian
Records DCD34060.
If you have Spotify, you can listen to the whole CD here. |
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The Painter's Eye |