Author Description

for soprano solo, SATB, and piano or chamber orchestraSetting vivid poems by Kate Wakeling, this work is a powerful exploration of the theme of ice. The lively first movement depicts the bustling frost fairs of 1684, with repeated patterns imitating the chattering of teeth and contemplative moments contrasting with ebullience. Featuring an expressive soprano solo, the second movement personifies an ice sheet, lamenting its impending loss as temperatures rise. The closing movement is rich in imaginative word painting and has the feel of a perpetuum mobile, reflecting the rush of the magnificent waterfalls within the ice that the text describes. This is not a cantata about 'winter'; rather, it is a cantata for all time, a reminder that ice is a precious resource, something to treasure and to hope we never lose.