The Andante
When researching World War I, I came across a poem by a French soldier, Albert-Paul Granier. The war was incredibly gruesome; trench warfare gave way to disease, and mustard gas killed brutally. Yet, when faced with the unfathomable realities of the war’s terror, Granier turned to music, the simple Andante movement of the 7th Symphony, to soothe his soul and bring him comfort. In this simple setting for voice and cello, I wanted to bring Granier’s powerful message to life through music itself.
The Andante - Albert-Paul Granier
The rain, endlessly unravelling;
the rain, shovelling at the mud the whole sullen day;
the rain, unendingly sobbing its toneless chords;
and the whispering wind, crumbling the cloud into drizzle…
Why, this evening, am I haunted so
by that majestic andante
from the Seventh Symphony?
Its chords, as magnificently simple
as the triumphal arches of the ancients,
hold me in a vast enchantment.
Its harmony is velvet to my soul,
its murmur a caress that soothes
the melancholy as we pick our way
along the bank of this canal.
The rain has never stopped…