Music: Other music

Note on the use of music in Sunset Song
By Dougal Lee, musical director of the Prime Productions production

Other music

All the music mentioned so far is called for by Lewis Grassic Gibbon: it is plain from his attitude to kirks and ministers that he was not an enthusiastic churchgoer. We have found it useful to parachute in a Charles Wesley funerary hymn called 'Idumeo' to imply the toughness of the kirk's outlook at the time - 'And am I born to die? To lay this body down?/And must my trembling spirit fly into a world unknown?' We use this at the deaths of both Chris's parents and in the scene which introduces Reverend Gibbon. The hymn's lyric is dramatically enhanced by its halting, unusual 3/2 rhythm and almost medievally simple four part harmony. We have no authority for using it - I just think it works.

Music: