The text of the piece is taken from the poem Whoever Finds a Horseshoe by the Jewish-Russian poet Osip Mandelstam. The composer has taken the lines directly from the original Russian text that connected most stronglywith him both in terms of meaning and in terms of musically interesting sound combinations.For those who do not understand the Russian language small fragments of the English translation are heard now and then to give hintsof the multifaceted pictures of this fascinating poem. For Mezzo-Soprano and Piano.

The development of the character of Lady Macbeth is the subject of contemporary composer Joseph Horovtiz’s Scena. He has selected words from the speeches of Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare’s play and treated them as a mini operatic role. It is a work that offers a superb opportunity for a mezzo of dramatic gifts to inhabit one of the theatre’s most compelling women.Composer and conductor Joseph Horovitz has spent much of his career creating and conducting music for the stage television and cinema. He was music director of the Bristol Old Vic and has written and conducted ballets operas works for Brass Band among many others.