I have been writing a story for composer David Bruce, The London Philharmonic Orchestra, City University Music Department and musicians Fariborz Kiani, Arash Moradi and Laudan Nooshin. The story is based on a section of Persian epic The Shahname. David Bruce has composed a dramatic score that wraps around the text, conjuring images and emotions.
The Shahname tells the myth of ancient Persia. The themes of kingship, fathers and sons, run through the epic. But most of the kings are unable to live up to the ideals described, many of the fathers make terrible mistakes, and only a few have the courage to redeem themselves. The Shahname was originally an oral text, written down by poet Ferdowsi (940 – 1020 AD). By the 14thcentury it had become the tradition for the king to commission a new copy of the epic. Many precious manuscripts survive, and Cambridge University has an amazing website cataloguing these manuscripts. Ferdowsi’s epic is loved throughout Iran. There is even a saying that Shakespeare announced: ‘Everything I know comes from Ferdowsi.’
telling stories in ancient Iran
My interest in Shahname started when I worked with The British Library on a project to bring manuscripts back to performed life. I also wrote a little about Shahname and Ferdowsi. Then working with Iranian refugees at wonderful Persian shop, Persepolis, in Peckham, I used Shahname to develop spoken English, help people remember stories, and keep their roots alive.
Shahname was, and still is, a performance. It is usually told with music and drums. It is intoned to a syllabic metric pattern, the storyteller moving between prose and poetry, improvisation and formula, dialogue and description, speech and song. This was the original form of opera.
David Bruce’s piece uses the power of a full orchestra, and shifting rhythms, harmonies and melodies to create landscapes, scenes and characters. The composition reveals the deep structure of the story, with returning themes, variations, and rhythms evoking the world of the narrative. I will be telling the story with the orchestra. The text is embedded in the music, and demands that I know the piece in detail so that I can communicate it. It is a challenge, and a joy! I hope the Simorgh will waft her wings over our performances!
“The houses of today,
will sink beneath shower and sunshine to decay,
but storm and rain,
will never spoil the palace I have built with my poetry.” Ferdowsi
Bright Sparks Concert London Philharmonic Orchestra
Wednesday 23 May 2012,
Southbank Centre – Royal Festival Hall
10.30 – 11.30 and 12.30 – 1.30
‘Prince Zal and the Simorgh’
David Bruce – Composer
David Angus – conductor
Sally Pomme Clayton – narrator