Sarojini Naidu’s poems cover a wide range of humanexperience, from love, ecstasy, delight in the naturalworld, loneliness, acceptance and praise. These fivepoems form a cycle of one Indian woman’s experienceof lost love, delight in a colourful procession, the thrillof new young love, contemplation of death, andecstasy at the beauty of creation and the omnipresenceof God. Her poetry pulsates with her love of Indianlandscapes, seasons and flowers, simple joys, devotionand the splendor of Indian festivals. I chose anaccompaniment of string quartet and clarinet to extendand enhance the richness of Naidu’s imagery and thepassion she evokes. The clarinet, like a second melodicvoice, weaves around the vocal line, sometimessensuous, sometimes raucous and abandoned, inimitation of the Indian double-reed instrument theshenai. Many of the songs have long introductions,interludes and postludes, where the writing becomesmore symphonic than mere accompaniment. Richard Blackford
- ISMN: 9790708129127 (M708129127)
