We Said Farewell

(* Quoted from Programme Notes from the première performance, written by renowned pianist Barbara Lloyd.) This duet starts in E minor, at a slow speed of 65 crotchets to the minute. The words, "We said farewell to the Earth, as friends often did," are sung by the soprano; the tenor continues, "but sadly we knew that we would never see Her again." This period ends with a build in tension to the words, "For we destroyed the Earth!" There are strong dissonances, and the voices sing at high pitch. The setting of the words: "Man, woman and child were left to face their fate... " is in 5/4 time, and features an inverted canon in the voices. The words: "Dear Mother, we know that we were wrong to take your loving arms for granted... " are set in 4/4 time; after the melody line is heard on the piano, in E minor, the soloists have a perfect, complete canon at the 4th. The setting of the final verse, "For many years we scarcely took the time to think of how much you were suffering, but now it is too late... " ends with the voices at top itch, the soprano singing the E above top C. There are two sustained bars on each of the words, "too late": in the first two there is a 4-3 appoggiatura in the tenor on the dominant chord of E minor; in the last two, the mediant and the tonic are sung sustained, forte, while the piano descends into the bass register for a dark, fateful close. (Composed 2008)