This project is a remix inspired by Eileen Simpson and Ben White’s artwork The Brilliant And the Dark, exhibited at the Women’s Library, Summer 2010, Creative Commons sharealike 3.0.
Album Release and review
The recording of our piece ‘OF THE BRILLIANT AND THE DARK’ is available as a digital download from iTunes, Amazon (direct link here), Napster and Spotify. ‘Physical’ CD’s of the album, which include a DVD of our recent live showcase performance (see below for a webclip), are available after performances and by emailing directly: mail@ellensouthern.co.uk
See us featured on the Morley College website here
Read the album review on the Freq e-zine website here
“Southern has a vision...artfully mixing music old and new, in the search for a music that both expresses inner truth as it challenges the ear. Brilliant and dark indeed”
David Solomons - Freq.org.uk
The Ensemble are: Fiona McAlister, Ellen O’Driscoll, Nichola Richards, Holly Anne Rolfe, Ellen Southern, Namvula Rennie & Kelly Thompson (vox), Tom Bush (guitars), Adel Sahnoun (flute), Frederik Rissom / Susannah Hewlett / Alex Scatturo (double bass).
Video of Showcase and CD launch, July 2011
See a webclip of the special Showcase performance here
Video from Recording Day
Here is a short clip of the recording of the piece in March 2011 on location at the Main Yard Gallery, Hackney, by Danny Bright of Bog Standard Audio.
About The Project
'Of the Brilliant and the Dark' is a composition by Ellen Southern made in a response to an invitation by artists Eileen Simpson and Ben White to create a creative commons licensed manuscript remixing the original 1969 score ‘The Brilliant and the Dark’ for a project at the Women's Library, London, in the summer of 2010. Female choir Gaggle had also been invited to reinterpret the original, and the two distinctive pieces were first performed site-specifically in the library at Simpson and White’s live event.
Since then, Southern has developed her composition and performance further, forming a 30 minute atmospheric and hushed song-cycle for 7 female voices. She embraced traditional, experimental and extended compositional techniques to weave an emotive arc or collective ‘lifecycle’, allowing the individuality of each voice and instrument to be heard. Informed by an art background, Southern’s composition process also involved conceptual approaches and physical drawings directly onto manuscript.
The aim was to explore the original material in the context of a small-scale intimate ensemble, in contrast to the huge scale of the original cantata which featured 1000 female singers (voluntary Women’s Institute choirs) and full orchestra. However, one aspect in common is that Southern’s piece also raises ‘non-professional’ singers into the spotlight, bringing a unique depth and individuality of vocal expression.
The composer interwove her own stories and those of the singers with fragments and themes from Malcolm Williamson’s original score and libretto by Ursula Vaughan Williams, which she intensively studied while creating the ‘remix’ score. Transformative experiences-in-common such as youth, grief and becoming are relayed by the singers, who represent the ‘embroiderers’; the small choir who sat at the side of the stage in the original opera and stitched together a ‘bayeux tapestry’ of women’s history through song. To Southern this remains a poignant metaphor, as women’s voices in the arts are, and historically have been, under-represented.
Inspired by a projection made by Simpson and White of performance photographs and headpieces from the original ‘The Brilliant and the Dark’ archives, Southern has also created a poetic visual narrative to accompany the live performance, photographed by Namvula Rennie.
Previous audience reactions;
‘Magical and nourishing’
'I was transfixed'
'Experimental and accessible, with beautiful melodies'
'Truly new, beautiful and inspired'
'The visuals and music together transported me into another world’
Visual Projection - selected stills
Documentation and Feedback from Showcase Performance
“Excellent…so many layers to the piece that were all perfectly and professionally executed....it makes you want to go back and watch it all over again... I also thought the screen projection really added to the experience too. Everyone looked like they enjoyed performing the piece. I certainly enjoyed it”
- Jan Wieckowicz, audience member
I wanted to write and say how wonderful the performance was, and what a lovely evening we had! But more importantly you have written a great piece - I have listened to the CD and am more impressed each time I hear it. There is so much richness in the piece at so many levels - multi-layered textures, fabulous harmony, use of instruments and extended vocal techniques, and it is also very convincing structurally. Very impressive - do more!”
- Selina Kay, audience member and musician / music tutor
‘Remix’ Score
The copyleft score, created at the invitation of Eileen Simpson and Ben White, has now been printed and is available to be re-remixed under a creative commons sharealike 3.0 license. If you are an artist / composer / songwriter, and would like to make your own piece from the musical elements I have put together in this score, please contact me at mail@ellensouthern.co.uk. It contains 4 pages of melodic and rhythmic motifs, chord sequences, and some lyrical fragments which I reworked from the original 1969 The Brilliant And The Dark, and from which I developed my song-cycle and performance. If enough works are created from the score, future collaborations, recordings and performances could be developed.
Photo documentation of the Project
Selected Images from the Visual Projection
Previous Performance: 5th May 2011, Main Yard Gallery, Hackney
Documentation of recording day
Work-in-progress: artwork as part of composition
Work-in-progress: developing the remix score
Special Thanks:
I would like to thank Morley Adult Education College, Waterloo, a life-changing place through which this ensemble formed.It has a long history, from the Victorian period onwards,of offering accessible and affordable education, which enabled poor women to learn to read and write. It was also known and loved by composers such as Vaughan Williams, Holst, Cardew and Tippet.