Unaccompanied SATB with some divisi
Duration: 3’-4′
Final draft score – not complete.
Started during Storm Darragh, 2024. The big ash in front of the house seemed ready to rubble the house. It swayed enough to topple the stone wall at its base. A nearby beech tree cleaved (see picture).
Somehow amidst this, animals shift, align and sleep. They know the tracks of the winds, and often can hunker down and rest while the wind is hurling barn roofs across the land. Airborne golden eagles can appear stationery in a storm while all hell breaks loose around them. Unstartled Bird includes the call of one of my local blackbirds, plus that soft talk blackbirds do when they’re not singing for wide spaces. The title is a grateful nod to Norah McGuinness’ painting, ‘The Startled Bird’, in the National Gallery, Ireland, which also features a blackbird.
More Fieldwork Pieces
Circus
Carrownagappul
