Portions of Eternity is a new song cycle.
Rintrah Roars (for voice, harp and piano), an extract from William Blake’s ‘The Marriage of Heaven and Hell’, was written in 2016 and first performed by April Fredrick and the Riot Ensemble. I have now rewritten that song (without harp) and added two more – ‘The Bard’ and ‘Thel’ – calling the cycle Portions of Eternity.The title is taken from Blake’s words: ‘The roaring of lions, the howling of wolves, the raging of the stormy sea and the destructive sword are portions of eternity too great for the eye of man.’
Blake’s astonishing texts have often been a source of musical ideas for me: Urizen (viola with piano or string orchestra) was written in 1983 and was followed by This World (for choir and 2 trumpets) in 1994 and Fuzon (string quartet) in 2012.