[rss] feed for this website

Posted 30th March 2010

Ed Hughes' A Buried Flame in Wells and Sweden

The Bath Camerata will premiere Ed Hughes' new work A Buried Flame at a special concert in Wells Cathedral on Good Friday. It will also feature in a discussion with the composer on the same day on Swedish Radio. This work was commissioned by the Bath Camerata and will be directed by former Kings Singer Nigel Perrin. The inspiration for Hughes' composition comes from Psalm 69 and also from the publication Poems from Guantanamo (Iowa Press, 2007), poetry written by inmates at Guantanamo Bay who were detained without trial. The 19 minute piece is scored for soprano, alto, tenor, baritone and bass voices, with additional parts for electric bass guitar and soundscape effects (sea sounds, spoken fragments and processing of the voices). Ed Hughes said: "I wanted to see if an ancient psalm could work alongside these modern texts. The piece begins with the psalm, in which the speaker seems to be oppressed and isolated, and then sets the three contemporary poems.

"All the poems express the horror of being locked up without charge or trial. Like many, I was disturbed that the 'war on terror' had produced these conditions. Many of the poems also movingly express longing for homeland and family.

"Ultimately, A Buried Flame is a reflection on the anguish of incarceration. The poems and the psalm reflect timeless and universal emotions – perfect subjects for this kind of composition. But it's also about the need for reconciliation in the face of human suffering – the perennial theme of the Christian feast of Easter."

A Buried Flame will be performed alongside Faure's Requiem at this, the Bath Camerata's annual free public concert. Ed Hughes said: "The Bath Camerata often commission new pieces of music. I wrote a piece for them in 2003 and I am delighted to have been invited again to produce a new work for this marvellous venue."

For more information visit the University of Sussex website
or Wells Cathedral website

Swedish Radio will broadcast a discussion about this work on Good Friday. There will be conversation with the composer and excerpts will be broadcast. Link to Swedish Radio

Search all news items