Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Work Overview

My sorrow's flower was so small a joy

It took a winter seeing to see it as such.

Numb, unsteady, stunned at all the evidence

Of winter's one imperative to destroy,

I looked up, and saw the bare abundance

Of a tree whose every limb was lit and fraught with snow.

What I was seeing then I did not quite know

But knew that one mite more would have been too much.

• Christian Wiman, My Bright Abyss

Used by kind permission

Work Details

Year: 2020

Instrumentation: Mezzo-soprano, cello.

Duration: 3 min.

Difficulty: Advanced

Written for: Halcyon

First performance: by Jenny Duck-Chong, Geoffrey Gartner at Halcyon: Holding Light (Live streaming event (online only)) on 12 Nov 2020