The Noise of Waters - A Cantata

The Noise of Waters is a Cantata scored for Soprano and Baritone soloists, Mixed Choir and Instrumental Ensemble, dedicated to those who have lived with kidney failure.

It is an exploration of our relationship to water - its many manifestations and properties, its powerful metaphorical representations of creativity and spirituality and as both a life force but also life threatening presence. Its role in maintaining the 'milieu interieur' - disrupted in people with kidney failure and the 'milieu exterieur', under threat from water insecurity are the subjects for the last two sections.

It is in six parts:
1. Its Universality (James Joyce, Ulysses Episode 17: Ithica)
2. All Day I Hear the Noise of Waters (James Joyce, Chamber Music)
3. My Life by Water (Norine Niedecker)
4. The Water Diviner (Danny Abse and Psalms 63 vv1-2 and 42 vv 1-2, 3, 9)
5. More than Metaphor (Text compiled from people with kidney failure*)
6. Here is No Water (TS Eliot, The Wasteland, from What the Thunder Said)

* Text for section 5: More than Metaphor is a series of verbatim quotations reported in the qualitative research literature in which people with kidney failure were asked about their experience of symptoms related to thirst.

To listen to Sections 4 and 5 go to Score Video - The Noise of Waters
Full score can be obtained on request. To download the score or audio-file go to: DAVIES, Simon (2023) Tuning this curious harp: composing music that embodies the experience of illness. University of Birmingham http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/id/eprint/14206