Deep River

After a busy morning at Indigènes and an afternoon at ManLUG and OpenVPN, I took the easy option and plumped for The King Edward Musical Society (KEMS) and A Child of Our Time.
I originally saw this work in 1966 (or 1965?) in Macclesfield when I guess it was also performed by KEMS. Written in the days before Tippett's words became over self-indulgent

Pogroms in the east,
lynching in the west;
Europe brooding
on a war of starvation,

I would know
my shadow and my light,
so shall I at last be whole.
Then courage, brother,
dare the grave passage.

Deep river,
my home is over Jordan.
Deep river, Lord,
I want to cross over into camp-ground.
Oh chill! Oh don't you want to go,
To that gospel feast,
That promised land,
That land where all is peace?

Words and a work of great power calling for inner and outer reconciliation between the light and the dark.
Soloists included Margaret Ferguson - you understood why Tippett loved black sopranos - and at short notice Alexander Grove