Joby Talbot and Craig Hella Johnson on setting Octavio Paz’s poem ‘Piedra de sol’

[symphonic choral music]

Welcome to the latest edition of the Gramophone Podcast.

I'm Martin Cullingford, editor of Gramophone, and today we are going to explore a wonderful new recording from the vocal ensemble Conspirare of a brand-new piece, Piedra de Sol, Sun Stone, released on the Divine Art label.

And who better to do that with than its composer, Joby Talbot, and Conspirare's conductor, Craig Hella Johnson.

Hello to you both.

Now, let us set the scene.

The work, a substantial 70-minute one, sets an epic poem by the Mexican poet Octavio Paz.

The poem, a complex work, is a, it's kind of a meditation on cyclical time and the possibility of breaking its grip through poetry and love.

But you will both be closer to it than I.

So perhaps, Joby, would you like to start by telling us a little bit about this poem, how you encountered it, and what it means to you?