New Music Monday – Jabez Co

Welcome to the Halloween edition of New Music Monday! In honor of the day, I present a piece that I feel fits the Halloween spirit: the Jabberwock by Jabez Co.

The piece sets the poem “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll, which comes from Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. Although the poem is often viewed as non-sense, a very dramatic story can be unpacked from the invented language. Co’s setting of the text maintains some of the whimsy often associated with the poem (Hello–flute, viola, harp, bass, and mezzo-soprano? That’s at least kind of odd. But wait until you hear the ‘trumpet sounds’ from the flute too!), but he also infuses it with a sense of drama that helps make more sense out of the gibberish.

Streaming audio of the whole piece is below, as are links to social media, etc.

More of Jabez Co:
JabezSamuelCo.com
SoundCloud
Twitter