Esenvalds: Water Lilies

Commissioned by Independent Opera and premiered by Michael Mofidian, bass baritone and Nino Chokhonelidze, piano on 19th October 2018 at Wigmore Hall, London. A review of the premiere described the song as “hauntingly ethereal”.

Inspired by the great classical song cycles that use poetry about nature, I was drawn to the stillness of Water Lilies by my favourite poet, Sara Teasdale. It seemed to be the right kind of poem to which I could add music to enhance the text, to give a musical surrounding to the natural surroundings she describes so beautifully in her poem. The song gives both performers an opportunity to produce very personal colours. The phrases are short, which gives space to explore the emotion of the poem. Both singer and pianist are asked to go beyond the norm of just playing the keyboard, or just singing, giving further colours and effects. The pianist plucks strings inside the piano, and the singer whistles his final phrases.