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Score
The cry : voice and piano / Betty Beath ; words by Amano Tadashi.
Library shelf no. 783.66542/BEA 4 [Available for loan]
Display all products featuring this work (6 more) 
Work Details
Year: 1974
Instrumentation: Soprano, piano.
Duration: 2 min.
First performance: by Janet Delpratt, Regis Danillon — 26 Sep 75. ABC
The Cry is a setting of a poem by Japanese poet Kajima Shozo trnaslated by Jarry and Lyn Guest. I originally set the work for solo voice and chamber orchestra: the first in a cycle of four songs under the title Riddles (1974).
The following is an excerpt from the poem which I found very appealing:
"Once in the grass there lived a nervous insect, the tiniest creature in the whole wide world. H'd been afraid of the wind all his life and so, to get away from it, he dug a hole, sweating and panting. It took a year to do...."
I revised this work for medium range solo voice and piano in 2005 and believe it can well stand alone as a solo song for either female or male voice.
I selected the poem (in 1974) from a Penguin Books publication Post-war Japanese Poetry and was granted permission to set the text by both the publisher and the poet Kajima Shozo
Subjects
- Influenced by: Japanese culture
- Inspired by: Literature & Poetry
Performances of this work
Unknown date: One of three songs presented by the International Society for Contemporary Music. Featuring Janet Delpratt.
26 Sep 75: ABC. Featuring Janet Delpratt, Regis Danillon.
9 Aug 74: Conservatorium Chamber Orchestra, Mayne Hall, University of Queensland. Featuring Gregory Massingham, Queensland Conservatorium Chamber Orchestra, Josef Aronoff.
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