Dreamscape

I wrote Dreamscape for Peter and Meriel Dickinson, using Meriel’s rich, warm voice predominantly as a musical instrument, with no words. In this vocalise, I was trying to express the unconscious ‘language of the soul’, the mystery of dreams.





In this ‘dream language’, although the music is precisely notated, the singer may freely and spontaneously choose during the performance the vowels she uses and the shapes of the phrasing. I made use of quarter-tones in the vocal line, searching for different textures and seeking to heighten emotional and poetic elements.


Andrzej Panufnik


Reproduction Rights
This programme note can be reproduced free of charge in concert programmes with a credit to the composer