Music archive entry

Emily's Mantra is based on a poem, Amid the Barren Hills, by Emily Bronte. The poet describes her home, high in the Yorkshire Moors, in all its diverse moods. "I love them - how I love them all!" she exclaims, a sentiment which reverberates throughout the poem, whether she is describing the howling winds and driving rain, "the dank moss dripping from the wall", or "a heaven so clear, an earth so calm, so sweet, so soft, so hushed an air".

Similarly, in the quartet, all the musical material is derived from a simple, recurring, motif which expresses this passionate love of moors and home. The piece was performed by the London Chamber Group at the Conway Hall in May 1999, and again in the Bromley Festival in June 1999.

Audrey Podmore is a private music teacher and facilitator. She is the author/composer of a wide range of materials to support creative music-making by people of all ages and abilities.