1. The Moon: Angharad Rowlands & Joseph Cavalli-Price

Songs by Schubert, Schumann, Alma Mahler, Gurney, Gibbs, Fauré and Saint-Saëns.

Angharad Rowlands and Joseph Cavalli-Price have chosen The Moon as their tale around which to build their programme. They write:
 

We are both intrigued by mankind’s fascination with the moon: the space exploration of it, the astrological and mythological meaning and how it’s shaped the fundamentals of human life.

We were also inspired by the tale, as it recalls the engraving “I want, I want” by William Blake, which is an early fantasy of space travel. Angharad and I are consistently inspired by art and enjoy exploring the link between poetry, art and music: this work is one we have both always been inspired by and coincidentally fits perfectly with our chosen tale.  

This tale illustrates the tale of four young men who are intoxicated by "a gleaming ball" in the distance and steal it for themselves to light the darkness in their village. To illustrate this we chose songs in accordance with the text in order to enliven the images conjured by the tale itself. We open the recital with works by Robert Schumann and Alma Mahler which perfectly illustrate the stillness of a world without light. As the four young men find and steal the moon from the sky, we move on to French Impressionist composers Hahn and Fauré which portray the awe induced by the moon.

'Danse Macarbre' by Saint-Saens, which was originally written as a song, portrays the dead awakening from their graves and dancing in the moonlight. St Peter arrives to silence the dead in their graves. Once stillness is restored, we return to Lied ('Der Mutter Erde' and 'Nacht und Träume') to depict the universality of Mankind's fascination with the moon.