Seeds in Flight (from "Arabesques"), by Joanna Marsh

Quire of Cheahs presents 'Seeds in Flight', the moving fourth movement from the choral cycle "Arabesques" by Joanna Marsh on a text by the Gazan poet Khaled Abdallah.
A British composer who has been living in Dubai since 2007, Marsh is currently Composer in Residence at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge and is Co-Founder of ChoirFest Middle East in Dubai, an annual celebration of the region’s choral music scene.. "Arabesques" is a set of four pieces composed for The King’s Singers in 2015. These are settings of short but highly evocative poems by contemporary male Arab poets, each telling the story of a woman they have known. 'Seeds in Flight', which was premièred by The King's Singers and subsequently recorded by The Gesualdo Six, tells of how a woman finds rebirth after her death, with Marsh regularly resolving to the same minor chord before finally breaking out into an uplifting chord sequence at the end. Throughout, gentle dissonances color important moments in the text, such as at "whispers", "magic" and "miracle".
This recording is of the SAATBarB revised version which Marsh made, a third higher than the original AATTBarB version written for The King's Singers.
[notes adapted from Owain Park © 2020]
--
An ancient woman, who has lived all seasons,
Wanders the earth gathering camomile.
Each flower in her apron is a star;
Her apron is the sky.
When she reaches the house,
She strews them to dry
Like shells on a beach -
To bring good luck,
To whisper the future.
In the sun her tattoo glistens,
A star glints in her golden earring,
The camomile dries.
Her hand, hennaed with God’s names,
Spun the wool of the flock,
Embroidered the wedding clothes,
Gathered the dried flowers.
But next season, when the future arrived,
It silenced the whispers.
She was buried with her ancestors.
And yet as if by chance,
As if by magic,
As if by a miracle
The camomile grows each season
Behind the house.
Many seeds have flown.
These seeds remain.
-- Sara Vaghefian (b. ?) after Khaled Abdallah (b. 1970)

[@LaFilleDeLaRue]

Stunning!

[@borealischamberchoir]

Simply stunning, divine as always. An inspiration.

[@QuireofCheahs]

Thank you so much, Steven! Really appreciate the support and sentiment, as always! 💛

[@galinaivannikova9728]

So amazing! Love your recordings! Thank you for making this beautiful music!

[@QuireofCheahs]

Thank you!!

[@bearfuz]

This is amazing (of course!)... and I like the appearance of the cat near the end in the soprano window!

[@QuireofCheahs]

She also appears in the tenor window on the lower left corner as well!

[@elizabethcullinane5367]

Sinuous and marvelous. So glad my friends know you! ; )

[@QuireofCheahs]

Thank you!! And thank you to our mutual friends as well! :-)

[@jeanmarielally672]

As always, you have created a transportive, lush, moment with complex emotions and subtle nuances. Is there anything that you *can't* do, beautiful friend?

[@pacificodelnorte6628]

Beautiful and talented.🐱‍👤 (Yep. We saw her.)

[@QuireofCheahs]

Thank you! Yes, my cat has a pretty substantial cameo this time around. Clearly a kitty of good musical taste! 😻