One foot in Eden still, I stand
Ralph Allwood
The anthem for Evensong on Harvest Festival, 9th October is a setting by Nicholas Maw (1935 – 2009) of a text by the Scottish poet Edwin Muir (1887-1959), One foot in Eden still, I stand. The text deals with the impossibility of Paradise except in the context of sin and sorrow. “Evil and good stand thick around In the fields of charity and sin Where we shall lead our harvest in.” The piece Nicholas Maw is best known for, his Odyssey for Orchestra, written for the CBSO. “One foot in Eden still I stand” is a masterpiece of clear, telling harmonic resourcefulness.