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Blackford - Mirror of Perfection, Vision of a Garden | Lyrita SRCD406

Blackford - Mirror of Perfection, Vision of a Garden

£12.69

In stock - available for despatch within 1 working day

Label: Lyrita

Cat No: SRCD406

Barcode: 5020926040626

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Vocal/Choral

Release Date: 6th May 2022

Gramophone Editor's Choice

Contents

Artists

Elizabeth Watts (soprano)
Roderick Williams (baritone)
Stephen Gadd (baritone)
Ikon
Britten Sinfonia
The Bach Choir
Philharmonia Orchestra

Conductor

David Hill

Works

Blackford, Richard

Mirror of Perfection
Vision of a Garden

Artists

Elizabeth Watts (soprano)
Roderick Williams (baritone)
Stephen Gadd (baritone)
Ikon
Britten Sinfonia
The Bach Choir
Philharmonia Orchestra

Conductor

David Hill

About

The words of Mirror of Perfection, with the exception of the Canticle of the Creatures, are settings of almost unknown poems by St Francis of Assisi. They cover a wide expressive and emotional range: from hope to despair, longing to acceptance, love to bitterness, delight in Creation to an impassioned plea for peace amongst mankind. The cantata is no pious word-setting of an ancient saint – rather it is a passionate and vibrant evocation of a man who remains a symbol of hope for millions of all faiths and none.

“In 2020 I spent nearly five months (March to August) in hospital with Covid-19, and was in an intensive care unit for more than half that time. In October, when I went back to the hospital for a checkup, I was given two little booklets called ‘ICU Diaries’ which contained messages of support written by the nurses who looked after me in intensive care. I find it astonishing that these people whom I never knew (and who didn’t know me as a person, but only as a bundle of unpleasant symptoms) could write such warm and personal messages. The text that the choir sings in Vision of a Garden is taken from their words.

“I have plentiful memories from my time in intensive care, but they are almost all false ones: things which my mind invented to keep itself occupied while my body was otherwise engaged in fighting the virus. And, whilst I call them ‘dreams’ for want of a better word, they were much more vivid than ordinary dreams: they engaged all five senses, not just vision and sound.

“In the centre of the Addenbrooke’s Hospital complex in Cambridge there is a little garden (called the Jubilee Garden), which is a lovely oasis of peace amid the hospital bustle. As I now know, I was taken to this garden from the ICU a couple of times in May, to get the benefit of the fresh air and sunshine. I wasn’t consciously aware of this, but my subconscious transplanted the garden to Cape Town and incorporated it into my ‘South African dream’. In July, when I was in the rehab ward, the physiotherapists who were then encouraging me to get used to walking longer distances took me out to the garden, and I immediately recognized it as the same place I had visited in the dream. This was extremely worrying, since as far as I knew I’d never been there before, and I couldn’t believe that my mind had invented something that actually existed. It wasn’t until three months later, when I was given my ICU Diaries, that I learned I had in fact seen the garden in May.”

– Peter Johnstone

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