Kingdom of Daylight

Kingdom of Daylight, my latest composition, is out now on Spotify, Apple Music/iTunes, Amazon, Deezer etc. Here it is on YouTube:

Kingdom of Daylight was inspired by the beauty and sensuality of the language and imagery in Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poem ‘The Windhover’:

I caught this morning morning’s minion*, king-
dom of daylight’s dauphin*, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air…
… how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
…: the hurl and gliding…
AND the fire that breaks from thee then,…
… and blue-bleak embers…
Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion.

The contrasts of brightness and shadow in early morning light, in the wimpling (rippling) of the wing, “the fire that breaks from thee” and “blue-bleak embers” are what I wanted to capture in this piece, together with (in the central section of the music in particular) that exhilarating sense of the freedom of flight, “riding… the rolling level underneath him steady air”.

Kingdom of Daylight is part of a series with Immortal Diamond, The Heart Falls as Light and Wandering on the World, all scored for oboe and strings, all inspired by the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins.

* A minion is a favourite or darling; dauphin is a French historical term for a prince.