Radio Papesse

Three movements, each exploring our location at Dartington Hall as
 somewhere where time slips between different years, decades, centuries. In 
August, when musicians gather for the Summer School, as you wander around
 the medley of medieval and modernist buildings, different music seeps out
 of every door and window.

The musicians and audiences bring and share
 memories of their visits here over the years, and make new ones.

 Participants in the Summer School's Radio Drama course, run by Soundart
 Radio, walked, listened and collected. Their studio was the whole of the
Dartington Estate, their script was words found on gravestones amongst the
 ancient yew trees, and their scores were signs around the buildings. Many
 fragments were then pulled together into three movements.

Confusion
 explores the problems of collective music making in a Covid wary
 environment. Reflection provides space to mourn and remember. Finally, Joy
 brings together old memories and new music with attempts at happiness.



Dartington Summer School began in 1948 and has only been cancelled once, in
 2020. The planned events would have coincided with Beethoven's 250 th
anniversary, and a new work, Joy was commissioned for choir and string
 quartet. In 2021, amongst sudden changes, partial closures and socially
 distanced outdoor music, Joy was rehearsed and performed for the first
time. Snippets of Joy, by John Barber and Hazel Gould, pop up here, as well
 as many other half formed performances, captured whilst wandering around 
the site.



Special thanks to Sara Mohr-Pietsch.