“I just had to write and say how amazing the performance was today. It was absolutely stunning and very emotional – it made me cry! Well Done to all of you and Thank you for such a brilliant composition”.

https://www.jamesramsden.com/2024/03/07/luu75ptgz Jenny Cartwright – audience member, Landscapes debut, April 16th 2014

“I am enjoying the piece of Landscapes that we are singing. It flows lovely and makes me feel very happy. The harmonies are really nice. I cannot wait to finish the whole work. I am not familiar with the artists [who inspired the piece], but feel the flow through this piece. I am enjoying the opportunity of working with Emily here at the Turner gallery and look forward to more lovely works from her.”

https://www.worldhumorawards.org/uncategorized/hfp94isk Jackie Doll – singer in Landscapes, March 2014

“I like the piece. My feelings are stimulated by the music which sounds almost brooding at first, but then gently opens up and takes you along with it through a sense of peacefulness then to a sense of harmony and joy, and with the words, gives you a sense of the artist feeling one with nature: not just in seeing and appreciating but flowing through and incorporating his thoughts and mind almost to the point of being the creator of it. I am enjoying being involved in the Sounds Like Art project. ”

https://www.jamesramsden.com/2024/03/07/66ejgm5r https://fotballsonen.com/2024/03/07/h78be9bv6y Sylvia – singer in Landscapes, March 2014

“Cautiously liking the piece. I think it will grow on me. Some lovely harmonies. ”

Joy – singer in Landscapes, March 2014

“The artists are coming alive in the music. [I] like the piece. [It] makes me feel I am in a Japanese garden. The artists are coming alive in the music. Sounds Like Art project is great and being part of it really special. Thanks. ”

https://worthcompare.com/jvvez3ava6x Gilly – singer in Landscapes, March 2014

“I think members of the Big Sing choir feel privileged and excited to be involved in singing, at its genesis, through its development, then finally in performance an original piece of music, especially one that has endorsement through a project like the ‘Sounds Like Art’ one and an association with the Turner Contemporary which is itself in its relative infancy as a major gallery. The connection between Art (and especially painting) and music is a well established one, perhaps best exemplified by the works of Paul Klee and I feel Emily has made a fine attempt to infer such a connection through a consideration of the works of JMW Turner and Helen Frankenthaler, two painters yoked together in the Turner Contemporary’s ‘Making Painting’ exhibition. Emily has written for our 80-strong choir a piece full of strong, attractive melodies, satisfying harmonies and overlapping lines: challenging enough to keep us interested but not too difficult to defeat us in our task to learn it before performance date. In short, a delight to sing and exactly what we would have expected from Emily! We have had fun, too, decoding the text. The first part ‘The Pleasures of the Imagination’ quotes from the long didactic poem of that title, written in the mid 1700s by Mark Akenside and inferred as a notional companion to Turner’s paintings. The second part‘Landscapes’ is far more accessible, textually, taking as its starting point a quote attributed to Frankenthaler ‘I knew the landscapes were in my arms as I painted it’, and emphasising the sense of embodiment felt by the artist in the act of painting (‘I am the landscape, my body is the sea, a river ran through me’) and the excitement felt in the process (‘a fire burns in me’). We are looking forward to being involved in the Sounds Like Art project through performing Emily’s wonderful piece, and delighted to be performing it in such a setting. ”

https://giannifava.org/cwrqby3qe Chris Newton – singer in Landscapes, 2014

“We feel very honoured and privileged to be involved in such a project. We looked forward to attending the opening of the Helen Frankenthaler and J.M.W. Turner exhibition with great anticipation and excitement. Once there, the event and display became more inspirational, knowing we were to be performing a piece of music, written specifically by our Musical Director Emily Peasgood based on these great works of art. We feel very honoured and privileged to be involved in such a project (Sounds Like Art); having such a beautiful piece written by a talented and contemporary musician that we are then going to be performing in front of Frankenthaler’s wonderful Landscapes! Frankenthaler’s paintings certainly have inspired and hopefully, combined with Emily’s “LANDSCAPES” will bring great feeling and joy to all involved! Thank you to all who have made this happen. ”

https://www.mominleggings.com/ph3o3q86fw1 Penelope Moxey – singer in Landscapes, March 2014

“I like Landscapes very much. I think if we get it really polished it could go places. I find the words very moving and believe you have captured in words how the artist [JMW Turner] must feel. Sorry, I do not know much about this artist [Helen Frankenthaler] as I do not like modern art. I’m very excited to be involved in this project. I was in the choir from the start when Tony was M.D. Emily you have brought the choir to new strengths. I hope you are given the respect you deserve as M.D. and can only bring us even more challenges. Thank you Emily.”

Shirley K George – singer in Landscapes, March 2014

“I love the piece. “It lifts my spirits”. Turner’s Landscapes are full of light and romantic notion – the music of Landscapes Part 1 and 2 mirrors this beautifully by Emily’s wonderful score. Thanks Emily”

Tracy – singer in Landscapes, March 2014

“It has been a huge pleasure to be a part of the Sounds Like Art project. Emily’s piece is challenging to perform, but beautiful to listen to. It starts quietly and repetitively, leading you on a journey that gradually builds, the music enhancing the words taken from Turner’s poetry. Turner used poetry alongside his paintings to bring out what he wanted to show to his audience. The music takes you a step further. The exhibition itself shows the development of styles from both Turner and Helen Frankenthaler as they moved further and further into the abstract, emphasising the feeling and emotion within their subjects, and the music really does seem to encapsulate this. As you listen to the music, you are lead on a journey through the exhibition, building to an emotional crescendo. We still have a way to go, but how often is it that you get to be part of an original piece of work, conducted and directed by the composer herself, to be performed in the place housing the work that inspired it? Brilliant. ”

Julian Steel – singer in ‘Landscapes’, March 2014

“I’m really enjoying participating in this new and innovative piece. I particularly enjoy the drama of the quiet sections building into the more dynamic and flamboyant passages. To me it captures the elements of nature and the sea that Turner was so gifted in portraying – the calm lapping waves in contrast to the stormy seas and skies he captured. Having viewed Turners work in the gallery feel that music really reflects the work on display. With the sound of the music, in my head I can enjoy the emotions I think the artists might have felt while executing their work. It’s always very excited to be involved in live music, and particularly so with a piece of newly commissioned and dynamic composition . Emily is a really gifted musician who makes the experience fun while stretching us at the same time. ”

Lorna Steel – singer in ‘Landscapes’, March 2014

“Singing in a choir is a very gratifying and satisfying experience creating music and beautiful sounds gives rise to feelings of well-being. Being involved in singing new music is all this and more. It is exciting, challenging and an adventure. ‘Landscapes’ is a journey that the choir – The Big Sing – is going on with Emily. The music is being written in response to art works but it is for our choir to sing and we are to sing it at the Turner Contemporary, which is very, very special. What we have sung so far is beautiful and sensitive and I look forward to singing more; to see where our adventure, our journey takes us. ”

Sue Flory – singer in ‘Landscapes’, Feb 2014