The first volume in a truly revelatory cycle of musical compositions by the playwright and composer Michael Higgins is to be published by The Artel Press in June 2020.
rain rain, rain is a magnum opus of works, created over a 30 year period and exploring a palimpsest of visionary sources from William Blake through Rumi and the Gawain poet to Emily Dickinson, to create a singular and intimate soundworld, of both unique and universal scope and ambition.
Published here for the first time, rain rain. rain features fifty-five works by Higgins.
Generally scored for small ensemble – such as voice, piano, harp and percussion – each work can be employed individually, or the 55 pieces may be conceived as a single entity of many movements, as well as providing the companion score for the mystery plays contained within Baize Bound Beauty (also published by The Artel Press).
Within the score can also be found a discrete 24-piece song cycle The Sick Rose, the libretti for which include poems by John Skelton, Thomas Hardy, Christina Rossetti and Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
rain rain, rain is published in an A3 performance edition and in its original manuscript format. The composer’s precise notation, careful annotation and distinctive hand will be of practical use for musicians, and of interest to musicologists or anyone of a keen-eyed and inquisitive nature.
Higgins studied Music at the University of East Anglia before a 30 year career in writing, performance and music education.
This is the first music score to be published by The Artel Press and an opportunity for performers to finally purchase the authorised score for many of Higgins’ works which have successfully been premiered in Norwich, Liverpool and across the UK – to small, but highly appreciative, audiences.
rain rain, rain (Vol. 1)
ISMN 979-0-9002451-0-6
published by The Artel Press (June 2020)
324pp, A3 PERFORMANCE EDITION
Manuscript facsimile; wire-bound with a laminated cover.
£30 RRP
Limited release. Order now from our online shop here