Located in the UK
Located in the USA
Located in Europe
- Tarik O'Regan
Threshold of Night (2006)
- Novello & Co Ltd (World)
Commissioned by St John's College, Cambridge
Winner of the Liturgical award in the British Composer Awards 2007
Programme Note
Threshold of Night (setting one of Kathleen Raine’s Three Poems of Incarnation) was commissioned by St John’s College, Cambridge and was premièred under the direction of David Hill in the College chapel on 25th November 2006.
Written for Advent, the work aims to highlight the yearning that all societies have, in their time of need, for guidance from beyond their community. By coincidence, however, this composition was completed on the eve of 29th August 2006, one year after Hurricane Katrina, one of the deadliest in the history of the United States, made landfall in Louisiana. Looking at Raine’s words in this context (‘Go back, my child, to the rain and storm’, ‘I will not go back for sorrow or pain’), the poem can be seen to echo the conflicted and anguished thoughts of displaced New Orleanians. The original Advent sense of desired guidance takes on a specific, if unintentional, significance with regards to the tragic outcome of that hurricane; this is emphasized by the blues inflected harmonies found throughout Threshold of Night.
Tarik O’Regan
New York, August 2006
Written for Advent, the work aims to highlight the yearning that all societies have, in their time of need, for guidance from beyond their community. By coincidence, however, this composition was completed on the eve of 29th August 2006, one year after Hurricane Katrina, one of the deadliest in the history of the United States, made landfall in Louisiana. Looking at Raine’s words in this context (‘Go back, my child, to the rain and storm’, ‘I will not go back for sorrow or pain’), the poem can be seen to echo the conflicted and anguished thoughts of displaced New Orleanians. The original Advent sense of desired guidance takes on a specific, if unintentional, significance with regards to the tragic outcome of that hurricane; this is emphasized by the blues inflected harmonies found throughout Threshold of Night.
Tarik O’Regan
New York, August 2006
Media
Threshold of Night
Reviews
Tarik O’Regan’s 2006 blues-inflected Threshold of Night, setting verses by Kathleen Raine, was given a highly charged and shapely performance, its anguish and consolation fully realised.
August 2022
In "Threshold of Night," the men's call to "Go back, my babe," repeated insistently to a child seeking shelter, added poignance to the images of a storm-ravaged landscape....
5th October 2007
Toward the end of Threshold of Night, the rocking male music under "Go back, my babe" created a brilliant web of sound, expressing pain and hope.
1st October 2007
Discography
Songs of Renewal
- LabelSOMM
- Catalogue NumberSOMM0195
- ConductorBenjamin Goodson
- EnsembleBath Camerata
- Released1st July 2019
Threshold of Night
- LabelHarmonia Mundi USA
- Catalogue NumberHMU 807490
- ConductorCraig Hella Johnson
- EnsembleConspirare
- Released8th September 2008
