Sounds of Winter

The Sounds of Winter is a commission from The National Trust at Beningbrough Hall for their winter exhibition 2018-2019.

It is a series of six 2 channel sound installations in the grounds and gardens of the Hall.

Sounds of Sorrow | American Garden -an evocative reference to the time during WW2 when American and Canadian RAF pilots where stationed at the house near the Linton on Ouse airbase. Using archive material from historical letters and communication from civilian family members to RAF personnel the sound installation remembers lives lost through war using music recorded by Pro Cantione Antiqua (John Bennett’s Weep O Mine Eyes) and with the voice over by Will Norman.

Sounds of Labour | Laundry Room - an ode to effot, work and diligence through the poetry of Khalil Gibran. Referencing text from his well known work The Prophet, the spoken word is delicately recorded by Nicola Lee and is edited together with sounds of hand washing tools used during the era.

Sounds of Known & Unknown Worlds | The Potting Shed - taking inspiration from the words of Edward Thomas’s poem Digging and the diary entries of Gertrude Jekyll, this sound installation evokes memories of working the land which rich vocal recordings from both Will Norman and Nicola Lee. Alongside this spoken word there are environmental sounds of nature recorded using contact and hydrophonic microphones.

Sounds of Connection | The Glasshouse - inspired by Khalil GIbran and linking to his words recorded in the Laundry Room, this sound installation evokes a voice of the natural world through the words spoken directly from plants. The poem referenced is ‘Song of the Flower’. The evocation here is light and life giving using both the harp and piano as joyful melodic accompliments to the words spoken.

Sounds of Reflection | The Bothy - fused with images taken from the National Trust archives this is a sensory sound installation using environmental sounds to follow a sonic journey through the changing seasons.

Sounds of NIght | Nocturne | The Loggia - a sound installation tracing the sounds of owls in flight & of calling alongside a recording of the Leeds Cantabile Choir singing Thomas Vautor’s Sweet Suffolk Owl.