Songs of the WaterDragon

'Songs of the Water Dragon' was written in Penang at Chinese New Year, 2012.
The three poems set were ones I had carried with me since my childhood in Malaysia, when they were, if I recall correctly, engraved on a decorative Selangor pewter plate. The moment seemed right, finally, to set them to music.
The poems themselves are very short but they are, to me, profound in their simplicity, fleeting images that touch on far more than they describe.
As originally conceived, the songs were written with additional parts for flute and harp, which allowed for a duet between the flute and the voice. In reducing the score to just the piano, I have incorporated, wherever possible, the flute part within the piano texture.
The additional song at the end belongs to an earlier group of settings of English poetry. Performers are Sally Luckhurst amd Basil Richmond.