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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

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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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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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