12. The Goose Girl at the Spring: Wonsick Oh & Aron Goldin

Wonsick Oh and Aron Goldin have chosen The Goose Girl at the Spring as their tale around which to build their programme. They write:

Grimm’s story of “The Goose Girl at the Spring” is a classic tale of parental love gone wrong. With echoes of King Lear, a powerful king asks his three daughters to describe in words how much they love him. His cherished, youngest daughter, tells him he is “dear as salt”. This declaration falls short and the enraged king banishes his daughter to a dark forest. Here the princess is saved by a witch, who hides her amongst a flock of geese, and brings her up as her own child. Years later, the witch entices a kind and handsome prince to her cottage, the identity of the princess is discovered as she bathes, and true love brings with it the hope of redemption for all. 

For this recital, we've created a classic programme of song around a timeless theme - blending the different perspectives of the characters. For the tyrannical yet heartbroken king, there are songs such as Rachmaninoff’s “In the silence of the secret night”, Quilter’s “Come Away Death” and Schubert’s “Litanei”. For his grieving queen, Dvorak’s “Songs my mother taught me”, for the lovesick prince, Grieg’s “Ein Traum” and Tchaikovsky’s “Again, as before Alone” and for the princess, Coates's “Bird Songs at Eventide” – then during the banquet at the climax of the tale - Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Let Beauty Awake”.