A MOMENT
Mezzo-soprano, baritone, piano
2 minutes
In isolation there are no chance meetings... no bumping into each other on the street... no stolen glances. Even something as casual as meeting for coffee has to be rigidly scheduled in our calendars; every last minute is defined digitally.
This poem, A Moment by Mary Elizabeth Coleridge, explores a simple gesture; two characters speaking perhaps at once. The first voice is lost in nature, the second voice yearns unnoticed for the first. Coleridge describes a fleeting moment which has been stolen from us in this time of isolation.
This short song, set for mezzo and baritone duo, is composed as a musical equivalent of a haiku; a transient episode of simple statements and overlapping stories which sound like individual songs sung at once. A lullaby phrase in the piano is interrupted by sparkling glitches... the call of birds... filigree ornaments...
Premiered by Helen Charlston, Michael Craddock and Alexander Soares at Oxford Lieder Festival 2021, and released by Delphian Records.
If you like A MOMENT, you may also be interested in: SOFTLY or SOMETHING EXCITING