Frozen Tears

mezzo-soprano & piano [4’]; words Wilhelm Müller, trans Palmer; 2006, arranged 2010.

Wilhelm Müller’s poem Gefrorne Tränen is probably best known in its setting by Schubert in Winterreise from 1827. I first wove this new version into the interdisciplinary performance work, Flotsam & Jetsaminspired by my grandmother who played piano for the silent movies (and loved to play Schubert). Later it surfaced in the song cycle Province of Impossible in a new arrangement for voice and shamisen. This is the recording featured here.

Voice: Christine Duncan

Shamisen: Aki Takhashi

Recording: CBC Live at Sound Symposium, 2010

 

Frozen tears are falling from my cheeks,

But I don’t even notice I’ve been crying.

I’ve been crying.

Oh tears, my tears,

Are you so lukewarm

That you freeze into ice

Like cool morning dew?

As if to melt the ice of the whole winter.

Oh tears, my tears.