Hermitage

Hermitage was commissioned by Choir & Organ Magazine as part of their New Music Series, in collaboration with The Marian Consort. The piece draws inspiration from Wang Wei’s renowned poem, ‘Deer Park,’ a celebrated work from the Tang Dynasty era, and explores the complexities which arise when attempting to translate this poem into English.

An abstracted, literal translation of the original 20-character poem is used throughout the piece, with each word devoid of surrounding context, yet contributing to a surface-level impression of meaning. As the piece develops, further poetic extrapolations are intertwined with one another, as if viewing the same scene from numerous perspectives at once.

Throughout the piece, each performer must follow their own, independent pulse (heartbeat) in lieu of traditional time-keeping method, resulting in a complex and organic texture. This piece is the third in a series of pieces which use human heartbeat as a time-keeping device.

I was interviewed by Choir & Organ Magazine about the piece, which can be read here https://www.gramophone.co.uk/choir-and-organ/music-series/article/hugo-bell-hermitage