Fire, river, garden
pour violoncelle et chœur mixte (SATB) for cello and mixed choir (SATB)
Texte : Ben Osborn
This work premiered at Kings Place as part of their Earth Unwrapped 2025 series, and was commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Society, through the generous support of an anonymous donor
First performed in London by the Carice Singers and Nicolas Altstaedt on 13 December 2025
Duration: c. 16 min.
Fire, River, Garden
I.Fire
HUMANS:
our mother gave us a fire to carry and a way to carry fire our mother had been given it by her mother and each mother had passed the fire on and on
deep in our memory the flame is held like the centre of the earth like stars in darkness
we were the fire holders balancing out the land offering fire to the forest drawing out new life when the flames went out making space for fruit and flowers letting the forest breathe until we started to hide the fire in engines weapons hidden enough that it could be forgotten and now the fire we carried begins to carry us we feel it roll over our bodies watch it rise and run across the hillside choking the air darkening the day turning the night red
we held a way to carry fire now we hold an empty vessel and are engulfed in flames
EARTH:
heat presses, marks the ground and underneath there glows a seismic shiver treetops turn translucent petals fall as snow, disintegrate feeding the seeds while insects weave among the scattered leaves
listen i am singing you know you know you know as flames lick at my teeth
II.River
HUMANS:
life ran along a river current we lived beside it washed our bodies in its body gave its water to crops and livestock
we shared the river with the plants growing in it with the animals beneath the surface
listening to the course of the water we heard of others like us as it crossed from world to world
travelling with the river we reached out found each other found ourselves in one another and learned to fly riding on the river’s back but afraid of falling and of each other we held too tight crushed the river with our weight and tearing trees from the banks like feathers from its wings we made of it a mutilated animal limping through farms and cities dragging our debris as we pushed each other into the dark dead water to drown
EARTH: the water is alive crosses the land slips beneath the surface disappears leaving on my tongue the drifting taste of shipwrecks of tossed stones dragged mountain ice the memory of cloud
the river is dying bruised and swollen weighted with new rains bitter with change
as storm waves crash as streambeds dry a choking gasp III.Garden
HUMANS:
there was a garden made of gravity it encircled us with leaves laid petals on our bed
blossoms covered the vines and we heard the birds sing as we pruned the young branches
pressed seeds into the soil traced their growth with our fingers smelt the green fruit on the spring wind
today the wind is heavy with smoke and the garden a graveyard
now that the river runs dry and water does not reach the roots we watch the leaves die on branches of desiccated stems
now that the bark dries out the sapless trunks are smothered by insects and we find ourselves struggling to breathe
wondering if our death will be a home for mushrooms a long awaited silence
as shadows from the leafless trees fill the garden with ghosts
EARTH:
my electric voices call root to root carrying the feeling of a turning tide
I hear you crying in the garden your water meeting mine beneath the ground
cry with me you who are a garden also are a river also a flame
Ben Osborn (2025)
B e n O s b o r n J o s e
B a s s
Vi o l o n c e l l e
S o u n d i n g
S l o w, f r e e ( q = c . 5 0 ) p e spre ss mp
plantsgrowing - init with mp theani - mals - be p neath - thesurface -
plantsgrowing - init with mp theani - mals - be p neath - thesurfacep
heardofothers - likeus
- weheardofothers - likeus asitcrossed
reachedout found
eachother - foundourselvesreachedout found mf eachother - foundourselves -
rid
ing - ontheriver's - back
mf ing - ontheriver's - back rid mf ing ontheriver's - back dim. pp
S.
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