This work is based on Philip Larkin’s poem of the same title. Part of the High Windows volume (Faber & Faber 1974), 'Solar' is one of Larkin’s well known poems, which have been described as a ‘piquant mixture of lyricism and discontent’. This was 'music to my ears', and having previously composed two other works - Plenilunio and Raggio Lunare - which ‘hover' on the same orbit, as it were, this particular poem immediately struck a chord with me: its astral, celestial, cosmological, lunar, stellar, planetary and universal associations (not to mention the energy here) gave further impetus to my curiosity on both musical and extra-musical levels.

© Thomas Simaku