An Exeter Festival Chorus commission
The Exeter Festival Chorus is proud to announce that it has commissioned a piece from one of its own members, Peter Nickol, and that it will be premiered at the choir's Laudate concert on Thursday 8 November 2007 in Exeter Cathedral (see concerts page for further details).
The composition is called Living Tree and Peter explains what led him to write it...
Living Tree uses texts from a variety of sources, principally Joan Poulson’s book of poems Onetree Singing, which concerns the felling of an oak tree in Tatton Park, Cheshire, and the subsequent use of its timber. The book formed part of a project based around one tree but underlining the multi-faceted value of trees and woodland.
In making a piece about trees I have not wished to be sentimental or religious. I am happy with the thought of trees being felled and (responsibly) used, and I am not concerned with their mythic associations; however, I aim to express the admiration many of us feel in their presence.
I think of the opening passage, with its growling trumpet and trombone, as representing the struggle of a seed, against many odds, to find life, to reach downwards for moisture and upwards for light. The passage has in my mind a parallel with the ‘Repre - sentation of chaos’ that opens Haydn’s Creation, even though many listeners may feel it inhabits a different sound-world.
The piece falls into three main sections. The second picks out a few from the huge population of creatures and plants that inhabit trees and depend on them. The third section, using lines from Joan Poulson’s poems, focuses on the oak tree which she watched before, during and after its felling.
Peter Nickol, August 2007
Duration c. 13 minutes
Orchestration
choir (SATB)
4 trumpets
3 trombones
harp
timpani
percussion (one player)
