Score
Stars : for choir and wind quintet / music by Eve Duncan ; poem by David Malouf.
Library shelf no. 782.5542/DUN 2 [Available for loan]
Work Overview
David Malouf's exquisite poem explores love. intimacy and eternity.
The stars that are above in the Melbourne night sky in December were given a mathematical parallel in the music of the woodwinds that accompany the choir in this setting of Malouf's poem. The star formations include the Southern Cross, Sirius (a tribute to Eve's daughter Siri), Pisces, Pisces Australis, the Crane and an upside down Orion, with his belt, Betelgeuse (his right arm), Rigel (his left foot) and Orion's head.
Stars
The stars have so far to go
alone or in harness
across a window pane.
Hour after hour tonight
I've journeyed with them, steady
the waves of your breath.
Dark space between our beds;
on the table a full tumbler
splits the light of stars
to stars, or floats
a column of dead water,
dead sky. From centuries
off, out of the reign
of one of the nineteen pharaohs,
a planet's dust, metallic,
alive, is sifted down,
hovers a bright
arc upon your cheek.
Miraculous! I lean
across the dark and touch it,
you smile in your sleep.
How far, how far we've come
together, tumbling like stars
in harness or alone.
By David Malouf
from Bicycle and Other Poems (1970)
Work Details
Year: 2016
Instrumentation: SATB choir, piccolo, oboe, clarinet in A, bassoon, horn in F.
Duration: 4 min.
Difficulty: Medium
Commission note: Commissioned by Astra Choir.. Commissioned by Astra Choir
First performance: by Astra Choir at ASTRA Choir (Church of All Nations) on 4 Dec 2016
Performances of this work
4 Dec 2016: at ASTRA Choir (Church of All Nations). Featuring Astra Choir.
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