Martin Suckling

Programme Note

This ninth-century poem is written in Old Irish, the parent language from which Scottish, Manx and Irish Gaelic all emerged. Since then, the passage of time has transformed language and music, but the image of the natural world in this poem remains powerfully evocative.

I chose to set both the Old Irish text and an English translation in order to highlight the simultaneity in the poem of both a foreign past and familiar present. The Gaelic words suggested to me the simple lines of folksong, whereas the translation is set to a declamatory recitative. In contrast, the instruments tend towards an energetic, dance-like, unison material. Stark juxtapositions and combinations of vocal and instrumental musics make a structure that is deliberately clear-cut and audible; the song ends with violin and viola trading bird calls above the soprano's final phrase.