These three songs were composed in the autumn of 2009, following a request from the Late Music Festival, to poetry by the York-based poet Daniela Nunnari.  Her words were written as a poetic response to a series of art installations by Keiko Mukaide but they can equally stand alone as abstract, dreamy landscapes.

Daniela Nunnari has a BA and MA in English Literature and Creative Writing from York St John who 'writes from a place filled with fairy tale forests, wolves and wild things with wings'.

Memory of Place was first performed by Paul Carey Jones and Ian Ryan, who subsequently recorded the songs for Meridian Records.

The composer has also prepared a version for mezzo-soprano and piano.

1. Frozen in its rigid beauty,

Wistful, willow, of

crystal tears

Formed in fire, now

long forgotten.

Left to

reflect

a former light.

An echo, carried

through the years.

2. Floating little, lazy, lights

are drawn towards their trickling end.

Burning orange, amber, yellow.

Safe, encased,

in buoyant bowls.

Light through glass, it

flickers, dances,

circles slowly, ripples,

rests.

Moving always, nearer

to the edges,

for the final fall.

Huddled in amongst the rocks,

they wait, protected,

precious things.

Until they are returned again,

to start their dance once more.

Their watery song will keep the rhythm,

guiding them, enticing them.

Their glowing, pulsing love parade,

a pilgrimage, as one,

alone.

Their light will always shimmer,

on the water, on the stones.

Their light will always dance with joy.

A journey to the known.

3. If wishes were willows,

they’d line every street.

They’d rustle and crinkle

their white paper leaves.

They’d hang low and heavy

with the weight of our woes.

They’d lean and embrace us

in long silent rows.

They’d keep our small secrets,

in loosely tied bows.