Juliet Palmer Photo: Supplied
Juliet Palmer writes:
“drift, drop grew out of the folksong ‘Down By Sally’s Garden’ as sung by Leo Spenser in Lakefield, Ontario in 1957. I don’t think I’ve ever been to Lakefield, and I certainly wasn’t there in 1957, but I have a small, disintegrating volume of Canadian folksongs on the top of my piano. A lot of rambling and roving takes place in this song, and I kept finding myself singing it as I rode my bike through Toronto’s laneways. This song, which long ago drifted over from Ireland, guided me through the labyrinth of composing.”
Performed by members of Auckland Chamber Orchestra conducted by Peter Scholes at a Composer Portrait concert devoted to the music of Juliet Palmer.
Luca Manghi (flute), Donald Nicholls (clarinet), Ben Hoadley (bassoon), Stephen Bemelman (ttumpet), Grant Sinclair (trombone), Jenny Raven, Rachel Thomas (percussion), James Yoo (piano), Evgeny Lanchtchikov (double bass), Blas Gonzalez (piano)
Recorded by RNZ Concert, Raye Freedman Arts Centre, Auckland, 20 October 2019
Sound engineer: Adrian Hollay
