Small steps (landscape for 8 voices)

Commissioned by: Barbican (Sound Unbound)

Small Steps is a choral commission for 8 voices that sets Coleridge’s Answer to a Childs Question in a short work first performed as part of the Barbicans Sound Unbound Festival in 2019.

The work takes advantage of silence, a technique that many who read Coleridge’s work today say is vital in punctuating his verses’ vivid, often rural descriptions.

Performers

Soprano - Lorna McLean Tenor 1 - James Edwards Tenor 2 - Joao Vaz Tenor 3 - Thomas McDavid Tenor 4 - Caspar Singh Tenor 5 - Jack Roberts Bass 1 - Zachary West Bass 2 - Matteo Placidi

Performances

2019

Gresham Centre (as part of the Sound Unbound Festival)

Poem

Answer to a Child’s Question / Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Do you ask what the birds say? The Sparrow, the Dove, The Linnet and Thrush say, “I love and I love!” In the winter they're silent—the wind is so strong; What it says, I don't know, but it sings a loud song. But green leaves, and blossoms, and sunny warm weather, And singing, and loving-all come back together. But the Lark is so brimful of gladness and love, The green fields below him, the blue sky above, That he sings, and he sings; and for ever sings he. “I love my Love, and my Love loves me!”