The Past & I: Thomas Hardy and Music

In this third episode we explore Arthur Keegan's String Quartet no. 1 'Elegies for Tom' which responds to Thomas Hardy's poem Afterwards as well as Larkin's poem The Mower.How does Hardy’s obsessession with death come out in his poetry?Why is he pre-occupied with his own death?How can a piece of music for string quartet respond to this?https://orcd.co/thepastandiArthur KeeganDavid FayRachel HodginsLotte Betts-DeanJames GirlingLigeti QuartetDelphian Records Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this second episode we explore the suite of arrangements of songs setting Hardy poetry from across 100 Years presented on the album.Is there something uniquely musically enticing in Hardy’s poems?Why, when critics haven’t always been kind toward Hardy’s poems, have composers consistently turned to them?What does it mean to arrange some of these songs for new instrumentation?https://orcd.co/thepastandiArthur KeeganDavid FayRachel HodginsLotte Betts-DeanJames GirlingLigeti QuartetDelphian Records Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this first episode we explore the song cycle Elegies for Emma which explores Thomas Hardy's relationship with Emma Gifford through the lens of the poetry he wrote about her...Does the poetry written after her death help us understand their relationship?Why did Hardy write just one poem about Emma before her death and almost two hundred after?And how does all this turn into music?https://orcd.co/thepastandiArthur KeeganDavid FayRachel HodginsLotte Betts-DeanJames GirlingLigeti QuartetDelphian Records Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.