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magid el-bushrajill cartermatthew turner julia desbruslais
lullaby for a lost soulronald corp
magid el-bushra
jill carter
matthew turner
julia desbruslais
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magid el-bushra
jill carter
matthew turner
julia desbruslais
lullaby for a lost soulronald corp
Magid El-Bushra counter-tenor
Jill Carter flute
Matthew Turner vibraphone
Julia Desbruslais cello
lullaby for a lost soul
1 Flow my tears fall from your springs* 2’25
2 Chain of souls 1’43
3 Bloodwords 2’32
4 Scarecrow songs 2’23
5 Forests of meaning 2’36
6 Lachrymae antiquae* 3’30
7 The lost waltz 2’32
8 Gone beyond 3’19
9 Lullaby for a lost soul 4’35
10 Flow not so fast ye fountains* 1’13
11 River of no return 2’29
12 Towers of silence 3’10
13 The language of the dead 2’04
14 Mourn, mourn, day is with darkness fled* 1’57
15 Passacaglia 4’18
16 Dreadful night 3’04
17 Strange twilight 1’52
18 Nunc in horror mortis 2’24
19 Lachrymae tristes* 3’36
20 Nightstorm lament 2’46
21 The storyteller’s assistant 3’55
22 Evolving 2’04
23 Alone in the zoo 2’52
24 In darkness let me dwell* 3’43
67’04
Music by Ronald Corp (b.1951) and John Dowland* (1563-1626)
Words by Francis Booth (b.1949)
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14 Mourn, mourn, day is with darkness fled* 1’57
15 Passacaglia 4’18
16 Dreadful night 3’04
17 Strange twilight 1’52
18 Nunc in horror mortis 2’24
19 Lachrymae tristes* 3’36
20 Nightstorm lament 2’46
21 The storyteller’s assistant 3’55
22 Evolving 2’04
23 Alone in the zoo 2’52
24 In darkness let me dwell* 3’43
67’04
The poems that make up Lullaby for a lost soul have a starkness and directness which made a profound impression on me. Francis had written libretti for me already, and we discussed making a song cycle of these poems. I was allowed the freedom to choose which ones to set, although we decided between us that some of them had to be included.
The male alto voice was chosen partly because the poems themselves suggest neither male nor female, and the instrumentation provides a halo around the voice with the otherworldly timbre of the vibraphone aided and defined by the flute and cello.
Francis suggested the music of Dowland as a foil to the poems, and the sad music of the musician who described himself as ‘semper dolens’ seemed an ideal match. I have transcribed Dowland’s music in such a way that it complements the music of the songs.
The song cycle is dedicated to Francis Booth; the poetry is dedicated to the memory of Marc Booth.
© 2013 Ronald Corp
Chain of soulschain chain chain
chain of soulscaravanserai of lost spirits
wanderingsandblind
through dark wormholesgroping
towards a mirage of lifeno more rivers to cross
Bloodwordsbloodwords
gouged out ofstarflamed
nightskyglittering like
flamewreathedcrystalline daggers
blazingwith angelfire
Scarecrow songsrivers of silence
flowers of emptinessscarecrow songs
set in lachrymal languagesseagulls
falling from an empty skyleaving no trace
the sightless eye of the lifeless heartsees countless
colourless dreamsdissolved into desolation
destructiondestitution
devastated and despairingsinking
through six strata of sufferingthe scarecrow’s last
sad smile
Forests of meaningforests of meaning
leaves from forgotten notebooksuninterpreted
branches of significancedropping with overripe fruit
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3
4
5
lullaby for a lost soulFrancis Booth
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The lost waltzdancing alone
in a wedding dressmidnight
moonlightedge of the sea
Gone beyondi walk through firebut am not burned
i float through waterbut am not drowned
i burrow through the earthbut am not suffocated
i fly through the airand do not fall
i live amidst the mudbut am spotless
in the midst of the smokei shine brightly
in the fast flowing riveri am a rock
in the clear blue skyi am a white cloud
Lullaby for a lost soullullaby for a lost soul
a life left behindabandoned in sand
shipwrecked on shorewashed up by the waves
harbour lights on a starless nightthe empty sky
the endless liesstorm-haven safety net
the morning’s catchriding the rising tide
languidly lapping the sea wallall the time in the world
River of no returnbut over the cracks
of the dustdry
bonegreyearth of life
hangsblacksweetfallripe fruitbloodbloom
hangingon the beckoning branches
of the wishtreeon the far bankof the swollen
swirlingriver
of no return
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8
9
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Towers of silencefold on fold
furled and unfurleda palimpsest of penitent pentimenti
a paradigm of possibilitiesforging a future of fleeting fragmentsmolten memories in a misted mirror
spider cracks in frosted glassthe imprisoning prisms
deflecting reflectionscleaving the light
violet to redviolence and dreadthe fears of the past
and the tears that don’t lastand who knows where the time goesand who knows how the truth shows
through artifice and edificethrough the chinks and crevices
the wrecks and ruins of remnants and remains
a raffia raft floating on dark watersthe flotsam of forgetting
on foam flecked seaswashed up by the waves
landed stranded shipwreckedsafe haven on storm sheltered shores
but soaring abovethe vertiginous verticalityof seven towers of silence
The language of the deadthe language of the dead
ghostwrittenin blackletter
engravedscratched
on dank sallow wallsrust
etched nail deepinto bright metal
spelling outscreamsilent cries
from the necropoliscalligraphies
undecipheredby the still
living
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Passacagliathe passacaglia of passing timea slow dance in a slothful trance
of cold romance and love lostletters etched in a bitter frost
of longing unfulfilledhope killed
by broken willthe broken glass
on the window sillcracks let in the winter chill
a ground bass flays the frozen groundthe broken consort’s canon sounds
a chaconne of shamean austere ostinato
on snow dusted fieldsthe hidden tracksof tricks and trapsconcealing gaps
in the warp of lifeand the weft of death
playing a sad story of invented meaningpointing out
the pointless patternsportrayed and displayed
relayedto an audience dismayed
by the dismal dinof discordant chords
diminished fifthsand unfinished riffs
unresolved progressionsand slow regressions
third inversions
final versionstotal immersionin ice cold water
a frozen stream of consciousnessmomentaneous beinga faint flicker of seeing
a glimmer of hope in a splinter of doubtunkind words in minor thirds
a masqued ball in a mirrored halla lonely dance
the one remaining chance
Dreadful nightall hope overcomereason defeated
fear injecteddirected
through pulsing veinsthrobbing arteries
heartthudtabla tappingtaiko thundersilently in the
tombdarkwelldeep
gravequietdreadful night
Strange twilightclouds hung like sand dunes
from shimmering wedgewood silkpregnant with meaning
swollen with significancesmoke signals in strange twilight
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Nunc in horror mortisnunc in horror mortisora pro hora nostrawhoresmile heal ushourglass reveal usfold back the sands
of time’s straight arrowas strait as narrow
down the final straightwith a limping gait
to the final gatetoo little too late
Nightstorm lamentnightstorm lament
sirensong in the silencesea-fret blanket of grey fustian
muffling the meaningsuffocating the sentiment
stifling the song
The storyteller’s assistantthe storyteller’s assistant
silent witnesshelpless helper
in the wingstearing tickets and passing props
trapped in the terrariumunder a fading sun
boundedby the narrowness of the narrative
never knowing where the arrow will fallas the story twists and turnslike a rat in a dead end mazeas the unsaid threads unwind
waiting and hopingfor the happy ending
for the fat lady just to singone more time
powerless over the fate of the protagonists
never able to rewardgood with goodor evil with evil
not to requite lovenor revenge pain
delay death to the livingor restore breath to the dead
or deny the dark designs of destinyto vanquish the victors
or give victory to the vanquishedeternal observeractor acted upon
but never asked to act
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20
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Evolvingfirecracked
ashwhite remainsbones shattered
embers scatteredwindblown dustswirlsfalling and fertilising
foreverthe revolving
evolvingexpectant earth
Alone in the zooalone in the zoo
trapped in a cage of darknesssteel bars of fear
pressing in on perspiring skineargouging sounds
of crushing claustrophobiaripping apart the air
as you search blindly for the keyscrabbling and scratching in the dirtscreaming breathlessly for release
from life without parole
Produced, engineered and edited by Andrew Mellor.Recorded 12-13 September 2012 at Saint Silas the Martyr, Kentish Town, London, UK.
Sung text © 2012 Francis Booth, reproduced by kind permission.Publisher: www.ronaldcorp.com.
Booklet notes © 2013 Ronald Corp.Front cover: Arrival © 2007 Chris Christophorou (Gouache on paper, 56cm x 56cm);
reproduced by kind permission, www.chrischristophorou.com.Inside front cover: photograph of Ronald Corp © Julian Hanford.
Design: Red Engine Design.
Printed in the E.U.
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