Walking Kiawah (2020)
These vivid poems by Keller Cushing Freeman are taken from the 2004 publication Walking Kiawah (Cedar Mountain Books). Kiawah Island is one of several picturesque barrier islands off the southeastern coast of South Carolina. The poems reflect upon the speaker’s relationship with the seaside environment of the island through the seasons. As four of the six poems chosen for this set concern junctures of the seasons determined by symmetries of time and daylight, a consistent symmetry is employed to reflect this in the structure of the music: all harmonies are constructed of intervals (gaps between the pitches) which are vertically symmetrical - the same stacking of intervals measured either from the top note to the bottom or from bottom to top. Similarly, melodic phrases are constructed from scales – some long, some short – with identical sequences of intervals going upward or downward. The settings strive to reflect the contents and moods of the texts as closely as possible and employ various understated word-paintings – wave-like melodic contours to conjure the seashore, higher notes to evoke light, the voice without accompaniment for loneliness, and so on. Overall, there is a sense that although we inhabit this place, the indomitable Atlantic Ocean and its denizens are always close at hand, reminding us if our inseparable connection and provoking inner revelations that we might not have experienced elsewhere. Overall range G4-G5. $25 for two copies of the score and demo recordings. Available from North Star Music.
I. Walking Kiawah - The speaker finds himself in the utterly unique environment of the seashore: “We walked the narrow spit of land, a track of sand and oyster shells thrown out like a line between the river and a marsh where chalk-white egrets stood proud as popes under a Sistine sky.” About 2:18; range C4-G5.
II. Winter Solstice - The potent allure of this place, though mindless and unmoved by human concerns: “Always returning to this ocean, always coming home to the vast indifference of the sea. The distant cry of cormorants echoes my cry for healing.” About 1:42; range D4-E5.
III. Vernal Equinox - A sense of relief when the gray and rain of winter finally gives way to spring: “Black patent leather grackles glint and crackle in a citrus sun's electric dazzle.” About 1:44; range D4-E5.
IV. Summer Solstice - A turbulent song reflecting the relentlessness of the tides and the impermanence of all on the beach and in our selves: “The shorebirds lose no time. They know the tide reclaims what it has given. They pick out a persistent present tense, since nothing can hold fast against tomorrow.” About 2:29; range C4-G5.
V. Autumnal Equinox - A relentlessly quiet song to mark the last days of summer, reflecting one last time upon the music and dance of the shorebirds: “At the shore this morning a cloud of sanderlings flew up around me, their cries the bitter, thin, insistent sound of violins.” About 2:11; range E4-G5.
VI. Leaving Kiawah - This song recycles material from the first one; it’s a recognition that this place - indifferent to our existence - is nonetheless a beautiful and sustaining part of us: “Take Kiawah away with you. Breathe its stringent air into every cell. Remember that its sea taste salts our blood, our tears.” About 2:05; range Eb4-F5.