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The Sea's Wash in the Hollow of the Heart by Joanne Metcalf

by Variant 6

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about

Variant 6 has a long history of performing Joanne’s vocal music, including her Il nome del bel fior (1998) and her Music for the Star of the Sea (1994) which she wrote for the vocal groups Singer Pur and the Hilliard Ensemble. Joanne’s music has always captured our imagination because of the way it looks to the past - with an obvious influence of medieval music - while feeling wholly contemporary. Variant 6 commissioned Joanne in 2020 to set The Sea’s Wash in the Hollow of the Heart, a wonderful poem by Denise Levertov. Joanne’s setting is bright and shimmering. The voices weave in and out of each other, “spinning out gold,” until finally we land together in a glorious musical moment that inspires the name of this record: “Let in new suns that beat and echo in the mind like sounds.”

lyrics

Turn from that road's beguiling ease; return
to your hunger's turret. Enter, climb the stair
chill with disuse, where the croaking toad of time
regards from shimmering eyes your slow ascent
and the drip, drip, of darkness glimmers on stone
to show you how your longing waits alone.
What alchemy shines from under that shut door,
spinning out gold from the hollow of the heart?

Enter the turret of your love, and lie
close in the arms of the sea; let in new suns
that beat and echo in the mind like sounds
risen from sunken cities lost to fear;
let in the light that answers your desire
awakening at midnight with the fire,
until its magic burns the wavering sea
and flames caress the windows of your tower.

- Denise Levertov

credits

released May 1, 2022
‘The Sea’s Wash in the Hollow of the Heart. . .’ by Denise Levertov, from COLLECTED POEMS OF DENISE LEVERTOV, copyright ©2013 by Denise Levertov and the Estate of Denise Levertov. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.

VARIANT 6
Jessica Beebe, soprano
Rebecca Myers, soprano
Elisa Sutherland, mezzo-soprano
Steven Bradshaw, tenor
James Reese, tenor
Daniel Schwartz, bass-baritone

Benjamin C.S. Boyle, producer
Charles Mueller, recording engineer, editor, mixing
Mike Tierney, mastering engineer

ARTWORK
Steven Bradshaw and Christopher Glass

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Open G Records New York, New York

Open G Records is an independent classical record label based in New York City. We strive to assist the exceptional artists on our roster in making records that tell their stories on their terms. Our artists enjoy unprecedented freedom in the production of their art, and co-own the resulting product in a profit-sharing structure. We hope you enjoy this wonderful music and thank you for listening! ... more

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