John B. McEwen: 'Crépuscule du soir mystique' from 'Vignettes from la Cote d'Argent'
Sir
John Blackwood McEwen (1868-1948) was one of the most significant
Scottish composers of the first half of the
20th century, and for 22 years, principal of the
Royal Academy of Music in
London.
This set of pieces was written while on holiday in
Cap Ferrat,
France in 1913 (although not published until
1918). Although not attributed in the score, the piece draws on a poem with the same title - which can be crudely translated as '
Dusk on a mystic evening' - by the
French Symbolist poet Paul Verlaine:
Le
Souvenir avec le Crépuscule
Rougeoie et tremble à l'ardent horizon
De l'Espérance en flamme qui recule
Et s'agrandit ainsi qu'une cloison
Mystérieuse où mainte floraison
-Dahlia, lys, tulipe et renoncule-
S'élance autour d'un treillis, et circule
Parmi la maladive exhalaisons
De parfums lourds et chauds, dont le poison
-Dahlia, lys, tulipe et renoncule-
Noyant mes sens, mon âme et ma raison
Mêle, dans une immense pâmoison,
Le Souvenir avec le Crépuscule.
This poem was set as a song by Sorabji a few years after McEwen wrote his piece.
For more information on the works, and on McEwen's other piano works (and details of a commercial recording by
Murray McLachlan - which includes the immensely difficult final piece of the '
Vignettes' - a depiction of a motor boat) see:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/mackenzie/scottish
.htm
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Played by
Phillip Sear
http://www.psear.co.uk