Andrew Lewis

Singing Light

"In my craft or sullen art
Exercised in the still night
When only the moon rages
And the lovers lie abed
With all their griefs in their arms..."

Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)

Singing Light is a setting of Dylan Thomas’ famous poem ‘In my craft or sullen art’. It describes the poet’s solitary labours, late at night, while the world is sleeping and ‘only the moon rages’; not dissimilar to the circumstances in which this piece – and most of my music – was composed. The pitches and rhythms of the voice line are taken directly from a transcription of Dylan’s own reading of the poem, recorded by the BBC in 1945.

The piece was composed for soprano Deborah Norin-Kuehn, who gave the world premiere at the Bangor Music Festival in February 2025.