The score to David Matthews' Spell of Sleep.
Spell of Sleep is an arrangement for soprano and five instruments of a movement from Matthews’ 1983 song cycle The Golden Kingdom. The 6-minute piece sets Kathleen Raine’s incantatory poem, inspired by old Celtic verse. Matthews’ arrangement uses the muted, autumnal colours of lower strings – viola, cello, and double bass – and a pair of clarinets to summon a reposeful mood. Rippling trills in the clarinets open the setting, alongside glowing harmonics in viola and cello; double bass sustains pedal notes throughout