Apollo5: Sonnet 81 by Taylor Scott Davis

The contemporary American composer Taylor Scott Davis’s setting of Sonnet 81 by the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda is blanketed by slow, sustained chords – frequently registered in the depths of the singers’ vocal ranges – which resonates with the textual references to dream, repose, and the serenity that night brings. A rapid build-up leads to a blissful climax, a testament to the luminosity of the sonnet’s recipient – “only you, evergreen, ever sun, ever moon” – before the texture retreats to its initial deep, assuasive chasm, reflecting a mysterious but absolute textual conclusion (“Without you, I am your dream, that is all”).

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Apollo5:
Penelope Appleyard, soprano
Clare Stewart, mezzo-soprano
Oscar Golden-Lee, tenor
Oli Martin-Smith, tenor
Augustus Perkins Ray, bass

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Cameras, lighting and editing: Tom Mungall for VOCES8 Studios

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The critically acclaimed British vocal ensemble Apollo5 is based in London at the VOCES8 Centre and is part of the VOCES8 Foundation – our aim is to inspire people through music with an innovative education outreach programme alongside a busy schedule of concert performances around the world.

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