I Twice I saw him

II The dreams I’ve had

III A lonely hearts ad

IV Letitia has left me for Brighton

 

Monologues for the Curious is not so much a song cycle, but a bit closer to a set of four

dramatic monologues, with the tenor adopting different characters for each movement.

As I have done in a number of pieces, I have created my own texts out of an existing

source material – in this case, various ghost stories by M. R. James. The texts don’t feel

like M.R. James narratives, but sometimes have some of the same tone – sepulchral yet

distanced.

 

In the first, 'Twice I saw him', the tenor recounts an erotically-charged encounter with a

mysterious man, and a second, later encounter with the same man, now greatly

diminished. We finish with an intonement in French – ‘Twice I saw him, a thousand

times I felt him’.

 

'The Dreams I’ve Had' sees the tenor – wired, on edge, anguished – recount various

surreal and chilling dreams he has had. In A lonely hearts ad, he presents potential

romantic partners with a portrait of his views, experiences and peccadillos. He is asked

to play a harmonica here – like a grizzled street busker.

 

In the final movement, 'Letitia has left me for Brighton', the narrator mourns the end of

a relationship that has been torn apart by the loss of a child. We finish, again, with our

French refrain – ‘Twice I saw him, a thousand times I felt him’. It seems, now, to refer

to a child rather than a lover.

 

T.C.

Ingeniously put together — verbally, dramatically and musically…deserves to become a classic for tenor and orchestra…dark stuff but Coult’s instrumental imagination is so apt that the overall atmosphere is flamboyantly theatrical rather than morbid…there is no shortage of clever effects…Coult’s most powerful device is to create what seem like conventionally harmonised and orchestrated backgrounds, then subvert or distort them by warping the tuning or smearing disparate chords together — just as a great ghost-story writer gradually perverts normality into creepiness.

 

The Times (Richard Morrison) 23 July 2025 ****

 

…a name to watch…The sense of foreboding that hangs over [debut opera Violet] was also palpable…A multitude of delicately scored sounds mingle in this shadowy, slow-motion world, including cowbells, harmonicas and melodicas, while a lowering brass chorale pulls the music towards a dark unknown…the work deserves wide circulation. I have heard it twice since on BBC Sounds, each time with increasing fascination.

 

Financial Times (Richard Fairman) 23 July 2025

 

Every orchestral colour was fresh, from the use of harmonicas and melodicas, sonically bendy and atmospheric, to the clicks of metronomes in the percussion section. The composer himself describes the writing for strings, at one point and accurately, as “chocolatey”…a vivid and disturbing creation by a major talent.

 

The Observer (Fiona Maddocks) 25 July 2025

 

‘I have a kindness for owls’ had the audience giggling…[Monologues] went down a storm with the audience – including this critic…fascinating throughout, very accessible, and most entertaining.

 

Seen and Heard International (John Rhodes) 22 July 2025