Sunday 10 June 2012

A DAY AT THE DARK CARNIVAL

Still thinking about Ray Bradbury...

Twenty-two years ago, I collaborated with my long-time friend, composer David Hewson, on a concert work for voices and narrator, entitled The Autumn People.

Dedicated to Ray to mark his 70th birthday, the piece was inspired by his vision of American carnivals, fairgrounds and freak shows at the turn of the last century as depicted in a number of his books – most notably Something Wicked This Way Comes.

The work was premiered in London at The British Music Information Centre in October 1990; and I have uploaded it via SoundCloud as a tribute from Dave and myself to one of the most imaginative writers in the last and present centuries...

Roll up! Roll up! Roll up!
Pay up! Step up and see the show!



WordsBrian Sibley * MusicDave Hewson
SopranoJacqueline Bremar * Tenor Richard Berkley-Steele
Flute  – Georgina Roberts * PianoDavid Elwin 
 Narrator and Voices of the Animals – Brian Sibley


5 comments:

Boll Weavil said...

Dave Hewson's music is fabulous ! I have a recording of 'The Autumn People' anyway but its great to hear it again.

Eric James said...

Wow! What a delight. Thank you for posting this. I really enjoyed it. Listening to it, I was reminded of a cousin of mine, now a retired publisher. In recent years he sent me two cassette tapes with a recording of his work titled "Carnival of Lost Souls," about a carnival worker whose job as a carnival attraction was being buried alive. The tapes are his monologue while buried. I would love to see a staged version of "A Day at Dark Carnival," but I also can imagine the two works merged together as a single performance piece.

Brian Sibley said...

Thank you, both! :)

PS: Great website, Eric!

Selinde said...

Alas, I am unable to play this clip, or to download it to watch locally. Perhaps it's because I'm in Australia? Us Colonials are at the end of a 7 week sea voyage don'cha know :-)

Brian Sibley said...

Try going directly to my SoundCloud tracks.