Things that Grown in the Wild Are Stronger, for Soprano & Piano

_Things that Grown in the Wild Are Stronger_ for Soprano & Piano (2024) was written at the invitation of pianist Coady Green and poet Sharon Flynn. The piece (05:30) falls within the genre of neo-tonal contemporary art music. A celebration of “wild” foods, setting text by the legendary Sharon Flynn, one of Australia’s leading authorities on fermentation. Flynn’s personal story of coming to the healing properties of fermentation is detailed in her second book, _Wild Drinks: The New Old World of Small-Batch Brews, Ferments and Infusion_, where she describes how these foods restored her youngest child’s health. In my setting of “Things That Grow”, the key changes reflect the burgeoning state of these wild plants, with a focus on the outward-looking Lydian mode. A recurrent arpeggiated piano motive represents shimmering life. The middle section has a cessation of motion, the young shoots yet dormant; the soprano leap of a minor ninth portends what is to come. The song ends triumphantly on the soprano’s top A in the key D Major, inflected through Mixture with the flattened 6th, over exuberant piano semiquavers.