ABSTRACT
In the years immediately following the Symphony, Wood collated and completed two sets of songs to poems by Robert Graves; to these can add a fourth set, compiled in the mid-1990s from songs composed between 1966 and 1984. As with the Logue, D. H. Lawrence and Neruda collections of the 1960s and 70s, the topic of the Graves songs is love. Wood's music engages with Graves's words as an equal partner in a dialogue. In maintaining this delicate balance, Wood's settings demonstrate his continually keen response to the demands of the text, sensitively highlighting obscure poetic connections and intensifying their emotional ardour. A Christmas Poem Op. 27 was Wood's first published chorus in over a decade. Written for the Chester Book of Carols, it was first performed by the Cambridge University Chamber Choir in Trinity College Chapel on 27 November 1986; it was later selected for the nine lessons and carols for the King's College service on Christmas Eve 1990.
