[Joe Crocker]

Rachel Long made a piece called A Kiss for BBC Radio 4 the other day, a sort of collage of poetry and musings, with some lovely music. A good listen.

And after listening I went off to find Judee Sill

[Quincy Lehr]

Here's a setting of a Claude McKay poem I did a while back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v79ZKfwV9CQ

[Jim Moonan]

.
I like it Quincy.

Nice to have this thread pop back up... On Hyndford Street by Van Morrison is hard to beat.

.

[Jim Moonan]

And here's a Tom Waits dump:

What’s He Building In There?

Underground

Hell Broke Luce

Singapore


Gold.

[Ann Drysdale]

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ihc0aRmNQSQ

[Joe Crocker]

Having someone set your words to music and animate them too must be a hugely satisfying feeling Ann. Well deserved. Can you say more about how it happened?

[Christine P'legion]

My mother is a composer; here's a setting of Barrett Browning's "How Do I Love Thee?" she did a few years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBP5yeFifr4

[Jim Moonan]

.

Originally Posted by Joe Crocker

Having someone set your words to music and animate them too must be a hugely satisfying feeling Ann. Well deserved. Can you say more about how it happened?

I think so too, Joe.

Annie, The merging of poetry, music and animation echoes the last lines of your poem:

Oh, may the year to come be full of these.
Small serendipitous epiphanies.

.

[Joe Crocker]

Originally Posted by Christine Pennylegion

My mother is a composer; here's a setting of Barrett Browning's "How Do I Love Thee?" she did a few years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBP5yeFifr4

That was really absorbing Christine. You have a talented mother. And the singer was very talented too, though I found it rather distracting watching the video trying to figure out which version of him was singing which part. It was much better when I closed my eyes

Are you or your mother aware of Voces8? They sing a sublime version of the Ben Folds song "The Luckiest"

[Christine P'legion]

Originally Posted by Joe Crocker

That was really absorbing Christine. You have a talented mother. And the singer was very talented too, though I found it rather distracting watching the video trying to figure out which version of him was singing which part. It was much better when I closed my eyes

Are you or your mother aware of Voces8? They sing a sublime version of the Ben Folds song "The Luckiest"

Thanks, Joe; I'm very proud of her! And the voicing on the piece is SSATB, so the top two singers... versions of the singer... are the Soprano 1 and Soprano 2 part, and then on the bottom it's Alto, Tenor, Bass (all moving left to right). Though actually peeping at the sheet music, the tenor part splits occasionally so I'm not sure how he managed that.

I don't know if Mom knows Voces8 but I loooooove them and own two of their CDs (Lux and Eventide). "The Luckiest" is on one of them, I think the former -- it's a gorgeous arrangement. One of my own favourites is their rendition of Ola Gjelo's "Ubi Caritas": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqBhMwtPjY0

****

Edited to add, some hours later:

I love hearing (and singing) different musical settings for poem texts. Here are a few favourites that I've encountered during my choral years:

Frost's "Choose Something Like a Star" set by Randall Thompson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iOMLdxndw0

Frost's "The Road Not Taken" also set by Randall Thompson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXOhRPI6UOM

James Stephenson's "The Coolin" set by Samuel Barber: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX6fB39jh8o