Letters from Morocco (1952)

 Letters from Morocco were borne out of composer, Paul Bowles' letters to Glanville-Hicks. These were part of a forty year correspondence. Islamic muezzin ululation and spoken words are meshed and interleaved. The setting style is free-ranging and while tonal is intrepidly engaged with Brittenesque techniques and wildnesses we may associate with Our Hunting Fathers. These are wonderfully fragrant yet not fragile settings. They variously celebrate the remorseless Sahara, music heard on the warm nights, a hashish almond candy bar, orange blossom, evening drums and the oasis. The hashish bar song has a wandering oriental contour redolent of Hovhaness and Cowell. The seventh of the songs is simply spoken – there is no music. It’s a brave and successful close and a valorous tribute to the words of Paul Bowles.