White Belyj Hvit is a composition for solo voice and electronics. It is loosely based around lines from a poem by Nadezhda Lvova (1891-1913). The poem Belyj, belyj, belyj, belyj [White, White, White, White] was posthumously published in 1914. It is about snow and the relief it brings to all that it covers with its soft, gentle whiteness. It is also unavoidably brings to mind Nadezhda Lvova's suicide – with a pistol shot to her heart – after her married and twice as old lover seemingly abandoned her.
My piece White Belyj Hvit is about the role of power between the strong and the weak in any relationship. It mixes lines in Russian from Lvova's poem with my own text in English.
White Belyj Hvit was forst performed at Klubb Skaiv in Visby on 20 January 2018. |
