DORA, DELPHINE - EUDAIMON (LP)

"The twentieth century has had its share of poets exploring magic and mysticism. However, it is Kathleen Raine who has articulated the deepest spiritual vision throughout the entire body of her work. Having studied William Blake - and, in the process of doing so, reading all that he had read - Raine believed poetry to be an art-form that could open readers to an awareness of a divine, transcendental world which expresses itself to us through in the language of symbols. When we become acquainted with Raine's symbols, we begin to see the world very differently: full of meanings and spiritual significance. Her vision of the poetic symbol has deeply influenced many artists and has led to a number of musical settings of her poetry. However, these are predominantly in the 'art-song' genre of classical composition - here, Raine's simple and intimate language is often obscured by the compositional settings and vocal techniques that the classical idiom demands. What Delphine Dora has achieved here are naturalistic settings of Raine's words, which present her poems in a new light. Delphine's work interprets Raine's poems in a style that is by turns ethereal, lively, melancholic and innocent - the last of these terms evoking the idea of the innocence of souls: who, being incarnated in the lower world, become corrupted and seek to return to their source through the gates of death. Like Raine's own poems, the songs on Eudaimon are pure in their simplicity and austere style. Yet they also shine with the crystalline fire of the world beyond: that same light which bleeds through the symbols that Raine believed helped our souls recall their original states. If you do not already know Raine's work, there can be no better introduction." (Phil Legard)