Search - Thomas Blondelle, Lee Bisset :: Swerts: A Symphony of Trees

A Symphony of Trees has evolved into an emotional and musical reflection on Passchendaele 1917. The starting point of this composition was provided by the inner monologues that Ivor Gurney, an English soldier, composer and poet, wrote in his numerous war poems. At the front he personally experienced human misery in all its forms. His texts deal with the entire emotional spectrum of such extreme events and circumstances. They raise the theme of this commemorative concert to a universal level. On the one hand A Symphony of Tree is tied in with the 1917 events at Ypres and Passchendaele; on the other it refers to current events in our insecure world full of conflicts and theaters of war. The work is a nineteen-part oratorio, whose main thread is Gurneys highly individual poetry. The overall structure of this long work is determined by the space in which it was to be performed on the one hand and by the central poem of the libretto, Memory, let all slip, on the other. The works solid structure, the location of the concert with its unique sacred and acoustic characteristics, as well as the rich content of its poems will all contribute to making this work an overwhelming and moving experience, as well as a redeeming and deeply human one.