Uploaded March 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Psappha Ensemble:
Conrad Marshall - alto flute
Benjamin Powell - piano
Tim Williams - cimbalom
Jennifer Langridge - cello
This performance was recorded live at Hallé St Peter's in Manchester (UK) on 12th May 2022. To view the 4K version we recommend you use Google Chrome or the Firefox browser.
Learn more about Psappha: psappha.com
Film Production
Cameras - Handel Productions
Audio & Mastering - Rob Kelledy
Film produced and edited by Tim Williams
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Simon Holt - The Sower (Psappha commission, Manchester premiere)
The Sower for alto flute, piano, cello and cimbalom is derived from a poem by Antonio Machado. I have written two other pieces that use this poem as a starting point: Surcos for orchestra and Cloud Shadow a chamber piece.
Noviembre 1913
Un año más. El sembrador va echando
la semilla en los surcos de la tierra.
Dos lentas yuntas aran,
mientras pasan las nubes cenicientas
ensombreciendo el campo,
las pardas sementeras,
los grises olivares. Por el fondo
del valle del río el agua turbia lleva.
Tiene Cazorla nieve,
y Mágina, tormenta,
su montera, Aznaitín. Hacia Granada,
montes con sol, montes de sol y piedra.
One year on. The sower casts seed into the furrows of earth.
Two slow oxen plough,
whilst ashen clouds pass overhead, overshadowing the land,
the brown, sown earth,
the grey olive groves. In the depths of the river valley,
the river flows, muddy.
Cazorla has snow, and Mágina, storms,
Aznaitín its cloth cap.
Turning to Granada,
sunny mountains, mountains of sun and stone.
[Translation: Simon Holt]
I discovered it on one of several bronze plaques to commemorate Machado set up on the walkway along the outskirts of the town of Baeza in southern Spain. Machado moved there after his wife died and taught French in the town. In the poem he is essentially describing the astonishing landscape.
Simon Holt
Learn more about Simon Holt: simonholtcomposer.com
Psappha Ensemble:
Conrad Marshall - alto flute
Benjamin Powell - piano
Tim Williams - cimbalom
Jennifer Langridge - cello
This performance was recorded live at Hallé St Peter's in Manchester (UK) on 12th May 2022. To view the 4K version we recommend you use Google Chrome or the Firefox browser.
Learn more about Psappha: psappha.com
Film Production
Cameras - Handel Productions
Audio & Mastering - Rob Kelledy
Film produced and edited by Tim Williams
----------
Simon Holt - The Sower (Psappha commission, Manchester premiere)
The Sower for alto flute, piano, cello and cimbalom is derived from a poem by Antonio Machado. I have written two other pieces that use this poem as a starting point: Surcos for orchestra and Cloud Shadow a chamber piece.
Noviembre 1913
Un año más. El sembrador va echando
la semilla en los surcos de la tierra.
Dos lentas yuntas aran,
mientras pasan las nubes cenicientas
ensombreciendo el campo,
las pardas sementeras,
los grises olivares. Por el fondo
del valle del río el agua turbia lleva.
Tiene Cazorla nieve,
y Mágina, tormenta,
su montera, Aznaitín. Hacia Granada,
montes con sol, montes de sol y piedra.
One year on. The sower casts seed into the furrows of earth.
Two slow oxen plough,
whilst ashen clouds pass overhead, overshadowing the land,
the brown, sown earth,
the grey olive groves. In the depths of the river valley,
the river flows, muddy.
Cazorla has snow, and Mágina, storms,
Aznaitín its cloth cap.
Turning to Granada,
sunny mountains, mountains of sun and stone.
[Translation: Simon Holt]
I discovered it on one of several bronze plaques to commemorate Machado set up on the walkway along the outskirts of the town of Baeza in southern Spain. Machado moved there after his wife died and taught French in the town. In the poem he is essentially describing the astonishing landscape.
Simon Holt
Learn more about Simon Holt: simonholtcomposer.com
