This Ravelled Dust: Cantata for a Nuclear Age
Robinson McClellan
About this work:
Premiered April 10, 2010 by the Toronto Choral Artists, Mark Vuorinen, director
For full video of the premiere, audio samples, and more, visit www.robinsonmcclellan.com/ThisRavelledDust.htm
texts:
— Morning Glory: Radiant Night – poem by Robin Muir Miller
— 7 O Antiphons (liturgical Advent texts)
— Biblical passages echoing the antiphons (some familiar from Handel’s Messiah)
This Ravelled Dust explores the paradoxes of nuclear proliferation, the allegory of the Garden of Eden, and the risks inherent in our thirst for knowledge. The piece interweaves the liturgical "O Antiphons" set as SATB anthems, with episodes of the poem set for solo voices, choir and chamber ensemble. Brief biblical passages echo and comment on the main action.
The piece uses almost the same instrumentation as Britten’s church opera Curlew River, and a similar compositional plan as well: as in Britten's piece, the action of This Ravelled Dust unfolds via the interaction of images, or “characters”, each with a distinctive pitch, instrumental timbre, and recurring motive. The "characters" interact musically, sometimes taking on each other's harmonic and melodic material for ironic or dramatic effect.
The piece occasionally quotes from Handel's Messiah, and borrows from Celtic sources including harmonic progressions found in the unique 1623 Robert ap Huw manuscript of Welsh harp music, and rhythms borrowed from the cláirseach (Gaelic harp) playing of Ann Heymann.
In the poem "Morning Glory: Radiant Night", Robin Muir Miller (who contributed many important ideas during the composing of the piece) has constructed an unusually rich web of sound associations that develop a quasi-narrative of their own alongside the semantic meanings of the words. The vocal writing highlights this and adds further layers of meaning.
Year composed: 2009
Duration: 00:45:00
Ensemble type: Chorus, with or without Solo Voices:Chorus with Chamber Ensemble
Instrumentation: 1 Flute, 1 Horn in F, 1 Percussion (General), 1 Viola, 1 Double bass, 1 Harp, 1 Tenor, 1 Baritone, 1 High Voice
Instrumentation notes: for concert harp OR clarsach (Gaelic harp). "High Voice" is Boy Soprano solo. Also includes S/A solos from within choir.