Though his music lies in the British Romantic tradition, Nicholas Maw treats Italian lyrics with skill and purpose in his song cycle La vita nuova. The cycle's title is taken from Dante's fourteenth-century treatise on love, and the five poems set are all medieval love poems (though none is by Dante). Yet this music was composed at the behest of the BBC for the Nash Ensemble and soprano Phyllis Bryn-Julson, and Maw's music remains an individual extension of his musical forebears. Indeed, the prominent role the horn plays in the opening "Sonnetto" recalls Benjamin Britten's Serenade for tenor, horn, and strings; the work opens with a warm pulse on the horn, and it leads the melody until the soprano enters. Gradually, the full group of woodwind quinte, string quartet, and harp that accompanies the soloist makes its presence felt. Maw sets this poem about the spirit of love to rapturously slow music, rich with round horn tones and gauzy string accompaniments; the soprano line is gloriously unhurried. The "Madrigale" that follows provides a contrast, as Maw sets its images of "wandering birds" and tempestuous seas to swooping, tweeting woodwinds and trilling strings. The soprano sings over them but sometimes can barely keep up. "Tacciono i boschi," the third song, provides the emotional kernel of the work. A slow fugue played by the string quartet, lovely and cool at the same time, brackets a setting of the text which reaches for the deep and quiet with rarely-changing wind chords and a soprano line which almost drops out of hearing on the word "silenzio." The music may feel distant, but it also feels eternal, and the tone is one more of longing than love—an essential quality of Italian medieval love poetry. The "Madrigale" which follows provides the only hint of violence in the work, with words like "my soul shakes and screams" set to resolute rhythms. The final song, "Il sogno," reconciles eternity and happiness. The birdsongs return, but the birds twitter in a pastoral vein. The soprano punctuates the poet's invitation to give up worldly cares for country life with achingly quiet melismas. The string quartet murmurs soft chords, the soprano melody flows sweetly until it dies softly, and the instruments guide the remaining music into silence.

© Andrew Lindemann Malone, Rovi