Barrie Cabena

Four years ago, I had the opportunity to work with Barrie Cabena as part of a CD project I was producing with Timothy Lanigan, at that time a boy soprano. Music director Eric Dewdney had encouraged me to make a recording of Tim’s beautiful voice, and I felt that Barrie was a natural choice for a commission of repertoire that would suit the project.

We met in the rehearsal room at a church in Cambridge, and I described to him our concept of the CD, and the theme, which was centered on the creation text from Genesis and how we were looking for a work that would anchor the entire project. As the meeting went on, and I talked, I began to grow concerned, as Barrie did not appear to be responding to my vision and enthusiasm, and I wondered if I was imposing an onerous task on him. At the end, he (politely it seemed to me) said he would prepare something, and wondered if he could have a month or so to do so. I was certain that he was complying with our request out of professional courtesy, the grant funding we were hoping to get would not be what he could normally command as a fee, and while I was not worried that he would create something that would suit the project, I was uneasy that this would be a “job” for him… I did not wish to put a composer into that position!

So, when a week later I received a call from Eric saying that he and Tim had just performed their first run through of the completed work, I was surprised. I was even more surprised, and relieved, to hear from Eric that Barrie had left the meeting that day, and immediately set out to write a text and then music. Not only was the piece exactly what we had hoped he would write, but it had obviously connected with something meaningful inside of him. Written for Tim in duet with Barrie’s son, male alto Daniel Cabena, and accompanied by David Hall, organ, Cathy Anderson, cello, and the Synergy Handbell Choir, it is one of my favourite pieces of music, and is filled with a sense of wonderment and hope for the future.

-earl.