The city and the sea

The City and the Sea is a musical arrangement of five poems by E. E. Cummings, inspired by the clusters of white keys on the piano. The composer started calling this technique 'oven mitt' because the chords are played in the same way as oven mitts are made – with the four fingers held together and the thumb separate. This cycle brings together songs based on Cummings' previously published poems. These were commissioned by choral groups.