Humphry Davy: The Age of Aspiration
The Three Spires Singers, based in Truro, commissioned a piece by Cornish composer Graham Fitkin to mark their 40th anniversary. Its first performance and world premier was on Saturday 20th November 2021 in Truro Cathedral. Fitkin, who attended Humphry Davy School in Penzance, chose to compose his work around the famous scientist Humphry Davy (1778-1829). He named his work ‘Aspiration’ referring to ‘both the cultural economic sentiment of the time and to the simple importance of inhaling and exhaling. It also refers to the very sound of that breathing’. In fact, the piece starts with the choir inhaling and exhaling.
It is quite a complicated piece with choir, countertenor and narrator often overlapping, sometimes with their lines running concurrently. It must have been a challenge for the conductor Christopher Gray, soloist Rory McCleery and narrator Samuel West. The Three Spires Singers and Orchestra were joined by the Cornwall Girls’ Choir and Cornwall Boys’ Choir.
Graham Fitkin was born on 19 April 1963 and still lives in Cornwall. His website fitkin.com gives further information about his compositions which according to Wikipedia ‘fall broadly into the minimalist and postminimalist genres’.
Notes
See Graham Fitkin’s Website for background to this project.