COME AWAY, DEATH
2023

This piece marks the second work I developed from the For Sophie album, transforming the piano composition At the End of the World into an SATB choral arrangement. The melancholic longing of the original piano work resonated deeply, gradually unfolding into a choral setting as I heard it take shape in my mind’s ear. Having recently joined the Halifax Choral Society, I found myself immersed in rehearsals for George Shearing’s settings of Shakespeare texts. This experience sparked inspiration, leading me to set one of the most poignant songs from Twelfth Night. This work has yet to be performed. Come away, come away, death, And in sad cypress let me be laid. Fly away, fly away, breath; I am slain by a fair cruel maid. My shroud of white, stuck all with yew, O, prepare it! My part of death, no one so true Did share it. Not a flower, not a flower sweet, On my black coffin let there be strown. Not a friend, not a friend greet My poor corpse, where my bones shall be thrown. A thousand thousand sighs to save, Lay me, O, where Sad true lover never find my grave, To weep there! William Shakespeare. From Twelfth Night