Text: Garth Bardsley
Flame's central theme is one of light and happiness being passed from one person to another. Bardsley's lyrics are inspired by a quotation from Siddharta Gautama Buddha, suggesting the notion that a candle's light shared is thereby strengthened rather than diminished. The poem's spiritual quality is captured perfectly in Parry's music, which starts with a single flickering melody, passed from upper to lower voices, and exploding into 12-part harmony as the flame is multiplied, culminating in the affirming final line 'so to light the world'.
Flame is a product of a unique collaboration between composer, Ben Parry and lyricist and poet, Garth Bardsley. The two met and performed together whilst students at Cambridge University but it would be some twenty years before they began to write together. Making up for lost time, the Bardsley/Parry output has been substantial and has seen some notable premieres and broadcasts; a number of which performed by the BBC Singers. Parry and Bardsley work closely together sharing a desire to make equal both words and music; so that the one may inspire and complement the other. Besides writing and teaching the two collaborators have enjoyed lengthy and varied careers as choristers and thus much of their work is for choirs - their burgeoning catalogue of choral works is published by Edition Peters.