Self-Portrait (Murrill)
Movements
i Of Self: Portrait of the Artist, ii Of Birth: A Song for Lovers, iii Of Death: Suburban Funerals
Notes
Murrill wrote Self-Portrait, to a text by the contemporary writer Geoffrey Dunn, a slightly older contemporary of Murrill, in 1929. In rather over-ornate 1920s cleverness the poet reflects upon his Self, Birth, Death and ‘Extranea’ subtitled Motum perpetuum. This at least gives Murrill something into which to dig and he responds suitably with wry reflection. In the second poem there are hints of Finzi, whilst the piano writing is cleverly wrought in the third where the vocal line is decidedly demotic. Of Death; Suburban Funerals is an off-hand setting with a dappled right hand full of colour.
