Score in preparation

I am thrilled to participate in the celebrations of the stunning renovation of Peter Jones, one of my favourite stores, which I have used happily for over four decades. With fashion in mind, I devised a group of four choral songs with texts by four very diverse poets: Keats, Shakespeare, Browning and Mary Robinson, in an attempt to portray the four seasons, not only in terms of weather, but by mood and circumstance. The correspondence with seasons in the life of a store is fully intentional! The setting of Keats’ To Autumn is rich, heavy and slow throughout with the low end of the choir, the basses, divided. By contrast, Winter in Shakespeare’s song from As You Like IT combines bitterness with a forced jollity. The Spring song by Browning reflects some of the strong feelings I have when I am away from England for long. I couldn’t resist a climactic chord on ‘Fine, careless rapture!’. The final song, for Summer, is by a relatively unknown poet, Mary Robinson. A woman in the late 18th century describes simply what she sees from her window. It could be Sloane Square today. Carl Davis 4th August, 2004