One Voice premiered in 2016, was recorded on the Skyborn album in 2017 and performed many times throughout the US since. The poem was initially part of a series that Garrett Schumann commissioned from Hannah Ensor to be included as part of his dissertation. Michael Hall and Megan Ihnen, decided the summer 2016 would be a perfect opportunity to all work together. Two composers approaching the same poet from different vantage points sharing instrumentation, with both pieces composed for mezzo-soprano and viola.
One Voice is intended to be exactly that. Each performer is charged with mimicking the phonetic sounds between one another: some are spoken, some sung and all played with the aim to blend as much as possible. A big part of this idea came from the Asian ehru, an instrument inspired by the sound of wind. Humanly voiced, like the viola, mezzo is the natural compliment.
For me, Hannah’s poem reconciles coming to peace with personal empowerment. As an avid yoga practitioner, I love the anchoring voice in the poem.
Duration: 9 minutes
Breath by Hannah Ensor
I left the biggest space for it.
Have a hard time
thinking of it. Oh it’s supposed to be
so DEEP, go all the way down. Breathe into your pelvis,
into your feet. There comes a point
when you see that none of it is bullshit after all & at that point
no one wants to read your poems anymore. I probably peaked
at twenty-two. The universe is a breath
& every breath a universe. Oh god I’ve done it again:
took too big a breath, bigger than “natural.” Told my friend
I wasn’t sighing at her. I’m no longer a teenager. She’s good; she gets it.
The thing that got me hooked at first on breath
is how much warmer it is coming out than going in.
Come in, air around me! Is what I say in my mind, Come in and I’ll do something to you
& you’ll be the same again soon.
Mara Gibson · One Voice (Ann Arbor performance, April 2017)
Press:
- “Hannah Ensor’s poem ‘Breath’ kindled an inventive response from Gibson. She set the verses for mezzo-soprano and a viola player who shares in recitation duties. It is titled One Voice, which is reflected in the seamless interweaving achieved by the fine collaborators (mezzo Megan Ihnen and viola player Michael Hall).” Gramophone