Equal Voices (2014)

The work is in five movements. The powerful poem An Equal Voice is full of the haunting images associated with the battlefield. It describes the aftermath of war – the damage inflicted on the psyche of men trained to kill, yet unprepared for the horrors they are forced to encounter.

I wanted to counteract this bleakness with some element of redemption – albeit as a yet unachieved vision for the future. I chose the Song of Solomon from the Old Testament, because it reminds us that love is our natural state, and that we are constantly searching for connection with each other; but over and again find ourselves distanced by conflict – not only in war, but in our daily lives. Separation from the Beloved is a theme which recurs often in Middle Eastern poetry.

Equal Voices centres on four very simple chorales, all using texts from the Song of Solomon. Material for movements 1, 2, 4 and 5 is taken from the chorale appearing either at the beginning or the end of each movement. The central movement (3) is a love duet, based on the ancient French folksong “L’homme armé” (the armed man), which has been used so often by many composers as a basis for the Mass.

Most of the text from Andrew Motion's poem is taken from first-hand accounts contained in Ben Shephard's book A War of Nerves, which also contains this statement:

We hear more from doctors than patients. However hard he tries, the historian cannot even the account, cannot give the patients an equal voice, because most of them chose not to recount their experiences.

In the context of the music, though, the title also signifies the dual texts – one describing war, and one love – and the equal male and female voices of the soloists and choir.