Located in the UK
Located in the USA
Located in Europe
- Thea Musgrave
On the Underground Set No. 2 (The Strange & the Exotic) (1994)
- Novello & Co Ltd (World)
Commissioned by Ithaca College School of Music
- SATB
- 5 min
- Robert Herrick, anon. 17th century, Edwin Morgan
Programme Note
PROGRAMME NOTE
There is one unexpected pleasure taking the London Underground (and, more recently, also the New York City subway): one's eye may alight on a poem placed amongst the pervasive and numbing advertisements, and, for a moment, the imagination takes wing.
The poems selected for this work are all to be found in 100 Poems on the Underground. The first by Robert Herrick describes the dream world, the setting where the "wondrous sights" of the anonymous 17th century poem can be found. Fortunately the subway piranhas of Edwin Morgan's contemporary poem exist only in the imagination. However this poem, commissioned for the inauguration of Glasgow's refurbished underground, so alarmed the transport executive that it was never used!
There is one unexpected pleasure taking the London Underground (and, more recently, also the New York City subway): one's eye may alight on a poem placed amongst the pervasive and numbing advertisements, and, for a moment, the imagination takes wing.
The poems selected for this work are all to be found in 100 Poems on the Underground. The first by Robert Herrick describes the dream world, the setting where the "wondrous sights" of the anonymous 17th century poem can be found. Fortunately the subway piranhas of Edwin Morgan's contemporary poem exist only in the imagination. However this poem, commissioned for the inauguration of Glasgow's refurbished underground, so alarmed the transport executive that it was never used!
Media
On the Underground Set No. 2: The Strange and the Exotic: I. Dreams
On the Underground Set No. 2: The Strange and the Exotic: II. I saw a peacock with a fiery tail
On the Underground Set No. 2: The Strange and the Exotic: III. The Subway Piranhas
On the Underground Set No. 2: The Strange and the Exotic: IV. Dreams - Reprise
Reviews
This was a collection of three short pieces. The final one, “The Subway Piranhas” was hilarious and effective and meant that audience members left the Cultural Center with smiles on their faces.
31st July 2019
Discography
Cantos Sagrados
- LabelSignum
- Catalogue NumberSIGCD604
- ConductorChristopher Bell
- EnsembleNational Youth Choir of Scotland
- Released8th May 2020
The Legacy of Nadia Boulanger
- LabelAltissimo
- Catalogue Number75442261382
- ConductorDaniel F. Toven
- EnsembleThe United States Army Field Band And Soldiers' Chorus
- Released2007
Choral Works
- LabelBridge
- Catalogue NumberBridge 9161
- ConductorHarold Rosembaum
- EnsembleNew York Virtuoso Singers
- SoloistMichael York (narrator)