Six pieces for double choir setting the six-poem collection Shared Ground by Indian writer Vikram Seth, written in response to his first three years living at The Old Rectory, Bemerton, George Herbert's home from 1630 to his death in 1633, and where he wrote much of his poetry. Each of the six takes a George Herbert poem as its structural model, but the subject matter is quite different, contrasting the joys and sorrows of human life with nature’s ever-present wonders. The texts were set to music by Alec Roth while he stayed at The Old Rectory.
Shared Ground may performed in conjunction with Ponticelli (“little bridges”), a partita for solo violin in five movements. The two works are designed so that they can be performed separately or combined in a dovetailed fashion. In the combined form, the six pieces of Shared Ground are linked by the five bridges of Ponticelli.
Shared Ground was commissioned jointly by the Salisbury, Chelsea and Lichfield Festivals and first performed by Ex Cathedra, directed by Jeffrey Skidmore, at Wilton Church on 6 June; Holy Trinity Church, Chelsea on 19 June; and Lichfield Cathedral on 6 July 2006.
Shared Ground was commissioned jointly by the Salisbury, Chelsea and Lichfield Festivals and first performed by Ex Cathedra, directed by Jeffrey Skidmore, at Wilton Church on 6 June; Holy Trinity Church, Chelsea on 19 June; and Lichfield Cathedral on 6 July 2006.