Abstract
'Coverings' was commissioned by Baroque Voices for their concert "Alleluia: a newe work! 2013 (The Ceremony of Birth and Death)," on 16 November 2013 at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Wellington. It was written for the harpist Helen Webby along with 6 singers from Baroque Voices, under director Pepe Becker.
This song was designed to be performed alongside Britten's Ceremony of Carols, and explores the theme of renewal.
The text is a poem by Elena Poletti, specially written for this song, and uses the image of a little blue penguin moulting and renewing itself for future survival. The poet writes: "Each of the verses looks at the idea of renewal in a different way, moving from a very consumerist search for a new image to the inner psychological or spiritual renewal of the last verse. For me, the penguin is a reminder of just how vulnerable renewal can make us, and how costly it can be. The trees suggest that renewal is both cyclical and something that can happen even when there seems to be no possibility of it. The trees look dead, without their leaves, and without the sun's warmth, there would be no new leaves."