Apollo5: Sonnet 81 by Taylor Scott Davis

The contemporary American composer Taylor Scott Davis’s setting of Sonnet 81 by the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda is blanketed by slow, sustained chords - frequently registered in the depths of the singers’ vocal ranges - which resonates with the textual references to dream, repose, and the serenity that night brings. A rapid build-up leads to a blissful climax, a testament to the luminosity of the sonnet’s recipient - “only you, evergreen, ever sun, ever moon” - before the texture retreats to its initial deep, assuasive chasm, reflecting a mysterious but absolute textual conclusion (“Without you, I am your dream, that is all”).
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Apollo5:
Penelope Appleyard, soprano
Clare Stewart, mezzo-soprano
Oscar Golden-Lee, tenor
Oli Martin-Smith, tenor
Augustus Perkins Ray, bass
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Cameras, lighting and editing: Tom Mungall for VOCES8 Studios
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The critically acclaimed British vocal ensemble Apollo5 is based in London at the VOCES8 Centre and is part of the VOCES8 Foundation - our aim is to inspire people through music with an innovative education outreach programme alongside a busy schedule of concert performances around the world.
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[@molliethorn]

What a beautiful piece...and so elegantly sung. I decided to find the words: Now you’re mine. Rest dreaming in my dream. Love, pain, and work should all sleep now. The night spins its invisible wheels and you are laying next to me, pure like a sleeping amber. No one else, my love, will sleep with my dreams. You will, we will go together through the waters of time. No one else will travel through the shadows with me, only you, immortal, forever my sun and my moon. Your hands have already loosened their delicate fists and softly dropped their drifting signs, your eyes have closed, like a pair of silver wings, while I follow the water that you carry, carrying me: the night, the world, and the wind spin out their destiny, and I am with you, simply as your dream. Thank you, Apollo5 for your beautiful singing.🎶❤

[@JimMeehan]

That's stunning. It's my favorite track on your "Haven" album, but I really enjoy this video, too, to see how you sing it. Bravo!

[@pieterderaad]

Just ENTHRALLING 😇

[@earth2jennyl]

Gorgeous. So glad to see this video. Thank you.

[@davidbasden5700]

What a fabulous sound! 🎶🎶🎶

[@seaborncb]

Inspiring, thank you again 🙂