So Djupt (So Deep)

Gavin’s Notes:

So Djupt (So Deep)

This is one of three choral works written for the Faroe Islands. All three set the poetry of Christian Mattras, one of the first poets to write in Faroese. The translation is by George Johnstone, the Canadian poet who translated several sagas and whose book Rocky Shores is collection of Faroese poetry from the early twentieth century onwards.

The piece is dedicated to my friend Sigvør Laksa with whom I collaborated on  a number of projects in the Faroes, and who sings in the choir for whom it was written.

So deep, so deep

Into my soul so deep, so deep was planted

a joy, whatever it was, mortal, granted –

as quickly buried under remembered stuff;

the whole of life in a swift second of life.

Under the heavy weight of day by day

it grew as something living, a seed of joy –

at a touch of memory it will swell,

this joy, a second of life, earthed in the soul.

So djupt Faroese choral piece

Gavin_Sigvar outside Trondur Patterson's house