Lydia Kakabadse: Recitativo Arioso – for mezzo soprano and piano (NXP131)

This is a sheet music edition of Recitativo Arioso by the composer Lydia Kakabadse.

Sheet music for mezzo soprano and piano

Words and music: Lydia Kakabadse

Score: 10 pages

Audio sample

Preface and programme notes

Inspired by the recitativo arioso (a quasi-lyrical expressive recitative) and set to my own lyrics, this song has been taken from a much earlier work, which I wrote when I was 18. It tells the story of a child lying by its mother’s lifeless body and how, even in death, a mother’s protective bond with her child cannot be broken.

The recitative, representing despair and danger, is in contrast to the arioso’s two themes: the first, presented on the piano, is lyrical and flowing whilst the second is lullaby-like, representing hope and love. In the end, the recitative with stark accompaniment gives way to the recapitulation of the lullaby-like arioso in the major key, where hope and love are triumphant.

The mood, however, becomes more sombre in the closing section when this theme returns in the tonic minor. Recitativo Arioso has in recent years been adapted for string quartet, to which a set of variations has been added.

Lydia Kakabadse

Words

In darkness, in a place deserted
A child cries so pitifully,
Huddled by his mother’s lifeless form.

Hush my child hush
Sleep my precious sleep.
Close your swollen eyes
Round you I shall keep.
I watch o’er you, day and night
And whilst you’re sleeping tight.
Dream my angel dream
Playing by the stream.
I’ll take care of you
All night through.

But Hunger beckons to the child
It heeds not his suffering.
Darkest thoughts threaten to surround him,
But the child is protected
And his mother looks on nigh
Oh, how he longs
To hear her voice,
To hear her sing,
To hear her sing,
Just one more time.

I will guide you
Life’s perils through.
I will guide you
Life’s perils through.