This piece was inspired by a stained glass window, specially commissioned by the Dutch Church from Thomas Denny, which references the Tree of Life in its imagery. This brought to mind Yeats’ poem ‘The Two Trees’, and particularly the opening section.

I have used the word ‘beloved’, and the gentle motif it conjured up for me, as a refrain throughout the setting. The shifting, vibrant colours of the glass, and of the poem, are reflected in the harmonies and rising vocal lines.