for soprano, clarinet, and pianoA Beuk o'Newcassel Sangs is the title of a nineteenth-century folk-song collection. Finnissy uses the folk-song texts, with numerous alterations, as a starting point for this own melodic material. The seven songs evoke a folk quality through the use of heavily decorated modal tunes. Only one line of melody is heard at a time, and the clarinet and piano sustain drones around the vocal part or provide linking material.
Michael Finnissy (b.1946)
Up the Raw, maw bonny I thought to marry a parson Buy broom buzzems A' the neet ower an' ower As me an' me marra was gannin' ta wark There's Quayside fer sailors It's O but aw ken weel
