On 17 November Newcastle-upon-Tyne Bach Choir give the premiere of ‘Songs of
the North’ for SATB and piano. ‘Songs of the North was inspired by three
poems drawn from ‘Poem of the North’, a poetic concept in which the fifty
specially commissioned poems are based on a new poetic form 8-2-1
a form
devised by Lisa Matthews as a tribute to the poetry section of libraries.
The 821 poetic form is an 11-line, 3-stanza structure which draws its
inspiration from the number assigned to English poetry in the Dewey Decimal
Classification (DDC) system.
‘Songs of the North’, for mixed chorus and piano lasting 12 minutes, was
commissioned by the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Bach Choir to celebrate Eric Cross’
40th anniversary as conductor. John Challis’ ‘North’ is the first poem in
this new work and he writes that his poem ‘considers north as a progressive
direction’. The text gives a real sense of always moving onwards and holding
the idea of ‘north’ close. Catherine Ayres’ poem, ‘Notes made on Hadrian’s
Wall’ has a spare quality about it; silence, a vast sky above the ‘shadow
spine’ of the wall and a deep sense of history. The words, ‘I mean nothing,
almost sucked towards the sycamore’s crown,’ are particularly poignant in
the light of the wanton destruction of the Sycamore Gap tree. I have given
this movement a simple ‘folk-like feel and integrated the folk song, ‘Waters
of Tyne’, into the texture. The rhythmic drive of final poem, ‘Journey
North’ by Ian Stuart suggests an exciting train journey through a
fast-changing landscape, pausing for a moment to observe ‘a blaze of
sunflowers’, their faces raised ‘to the silent sky.’