Charles Villiers Stanford - To the Soul Op. 97 No. 4

Bass-baritone: Emyr Wyn Jones
Répétiteur: Satoshi Kubo

Recorded in the National Opera Studio's Blackburn Hall as part of a free lunchtime concert on Wednesday 8 November 2017.

 

Lyrics (courtesy of lieder.net):
Darest thou now O Soul,
Walk out with me toward the Unknown Region,
Where neither ground is for the feet
nor any path to follow?

No map there, nor guide,
Nor voice sounding, nor touch of human hand,
Nor face with blooming flesh,
nor lips, nor eyes, are in that land.

I know it not O Soul;
Nor dost thou – all is a blank before us;
All waits, undream'd of, in that region,
that inaccessible land.

Till when the ties loosen,
All but the ties eternal, Time and Space,
Nor darkness, gravitation, sense,
nor any bounds, bound us.

Then we burst forth - we float,
In Time and Space, O Soul, prepared for them;
Equal, equipped at last,
(O joy! O fruit of all!) them to fulfil, O Soul.