Sarah performs a wide variety of repertoire but especially enjoys promoting and recording new works. This page serves to highlight the diversity of art song and chamber music repertoire newly available and reveals the range of vocal colours that can be explored. This first track is a setting of a haunting Japanese poem by composer Kerry Andrew, accompanied by cellist Louise McMonagle.
This work is a setting of the traditional Gaelic lullaby Cronan an Dain, or Fate Croon that is thought to originate from the Hebridean Isle of Eigg. These lullabies, or croons as known within the Western Isles, are essentially cradle songs the quality of which are, as the ethnomusicologist Marjory Kennedy-Fraser describes as ‘living, moving, rhythmical germs, that have a mesmeric, wheel-like pulsation’. The subject of these croons often entwine folklore, with ritual and superstition that bring a sense of foreboding – represented here by the clarinet and electronic parts that shadow the vocal line.
Sarah Dacey - Voice
Charlotte Jolly - Bass Clarinet
Duncan MacLeod - Electronics
Recorded live with the Octandre Ensemble in 2012, this is a setting of a poem by Hölderlin entitled ‘The Perspective’.
“When in the distance vanishes man’s life of dwelling / (That distance where gleams the time of vines is also where lies the summer’s empty realm) / Then the forest appears, together with its dark image. / That nature completes the image of seasons / That she lingers, quickly gliding over them / Is out of perfection - the height of the sky gleams / Upon men, then, just like leaves wreathe the trees.”
Riot Ensemble's live performance of Helga Arias Parra's Incipit at Blackheath Halls in 2017.
Hear more of Helga's Music Here: @helga-arias-parra
This recording was made by Coviello Music Productions: coviellomusic.com/
Musicians:
Sarah Dacey, Soprano
Rebecca Speller, Flute
Ausias Garrigos, Bass Clarinet
Adam Swayne, Piano
Naoko Keatley, Violin
Louise McMonagle, Cello
Aaron Holloway-Nahum, Conductor