Archived event
Featuring
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Benjamin Northey conductor
Paul Grabowsky AO piano
Lisa Gerrard vocals
Program
Paul Grabowsky Immortal Diamond
World premiere of an MSO Commission
About this performance
“Immortal Diamond borrows its title from a poem of Gerard Manley Hopkins, called That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire and the Comfort of Resurrection, in which his unforgettable final lines describe his relationship to Christ:
since he was what I am, and
This Jack, joke, poor potsherd, patch, matchwood, immortal diamond,
Is immortal diamond
This beautiful poem, full of extraordinary sound pictures, provides the inspiration for a sound world in which Lisa Gerrard will range freely, one that speaks of the power of spiritual love and renewal. The music will ebb and flow slowly like a tide, the orchestra and sixteen wordless singers embedded within it will wrap around her voice, occasionally falling away to the ruminations of the piano as it continues accompanying a song that—in a sense—has no beginning and no end.”
— Paul Grabowsky AO, MSO Composer in Residence
Duration: approx. 1 hour, no interval
Immortal Diamond is presented as part of the MSO’s Metropolis New Music program.
Read the full poem here, courtesy of The Poetry Foundation
