Instrumentation: Soprano & Piano

Downloadable sample pages found at the link here.

My original set of ”Four songs from Robert Graves“ was composed in 1964, the last of my nearly six years stay in England. They were written for Janice Chapman who subsequently performed them there as well as in Australia and the U.S.A.. They were also sung in Hobart in 1994 by Jane Manning accompanied by Ian Munro at the New Music Festival. About the same period I composed the original group, I set another short Graves poem ”She Tells Her Love While Half Asleep”, but separate from the other four.

When the possibility of a performance by Jane Edwards and David Bollard arose recently, I decided to act on my long held intention to revise the songs and include ”She Tells Her Love…” as one of a set of five. All five songs have been revised in small but important ways. After almost 44 years since their composition, I’ve found the process of rediscovery and refinement a fascinating and rewarding experience.

In general, Graves’ poetry embodies a tension between romantic intensity and a pull toward clarity, order and analysis. His preoccupation with aspects of human love and interaction is reflected in four of my selected poems, while no.4, ”Reproach”, is concerned with religious and moral issues.