"Mirages"; the light and life of John La Farge through music.
This programme was presented in conjunction with the 2015 exhibition held at the McMullen Museum of Art, Boston and in Newport, Rhode Island, U.S.A.
Mirages: The Light and Life of John La Farge through Music.
Charlotte de Rothschild – soprano, Adrian Farmer - piano
The inspiration for this programme comes from the diffused light that filters through John La Farge's many works of art - be they stained glass windows, or paintings. In a passage from his book Reminiscences of the South Seas, written in 1890 at the start of his voyage to the Pacific Islands, he wrote; "When I went to bed, blue light poured in by reflection from the waves that had looked dark and colourless from the deck. It was the same contrast as by daylight, when the dark sea, isolated from the sky, takes a blue like Oriental satin, and is fired with light. Tonight again the moon gave a play – no longer in the great pomp of a simple spread of silver forms of cloud, but like an opera of colour and shadow…"
In this recital I hope to mirror some of his imaginings that took form throughout his career, inspired by his use of colour, of form and of spirituality. I will not attempt to follow his life in a chronological order but rather tie the music in with some of the people he met, with themes of some of his best-loved work, and their images. Music in itself has a certain innate fluidity, an ephemeral mellifluousness, a mirage that has one reaching out to try to grasp, like the myriad colours cast by a dappled ray of sunlight streaming through a church window...
My heart is like a singing bird | Charles Hubert Parry (1848-1918) |
Silent noon The Call (5 Mystical songs) |
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) |
I wonder as I wander | arr. Stuart Calvert |
Der Komet Les Papillons |
Mathilde de Rothschild (1832-1924) |
À sa guitare | Francis Poulenc(1899-1963) |
L'invitation au voyage | Henri Duparc (1848-1933) |
Mirages Cygne sur l’eau Reflets dans l’eau Jardin nocturne Danseuse |
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) |
I N T E R V A L | |
Waikiki | Charles Tomlinson Griffes (1884-1920) |
Koujo no tsuki | Taki Rentaro (1879-1903) |
Chin chin chidori | Hidemaru Konoe (1898-1973) |
Kirito hanashita | Yoshinao Nakada (1923-2000) |
Kanega narimasu Jogashima no ame |
Kohsaku Yamada (1886-1965) |
Water lilies | Serge Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) |
Peony | Do Nan Cho arr. Ronn Branton |
Dream valley Tulips Arab Love song |
Roger Quilter (1877-1953) |
Exbury Estate Office
Exbury
Nr. Southampton
Hampshire SO45 1AZ