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for a capella vocal ensemble
(8 soloists and 8 part choir), M.651 (2006)
LISTEN TO THE FIRST EXCERPT
(beginning) :
LISTEN TO THE SECOND EXCERPT :
Interpretation :
Sangita Choir, directed by Susanne Peck
Soloists : Cynthia Wallace, Laura
Green, sopranos
Misa Iwama, Mary Runyon,
altos
Drew
Martin, John Olund, tenors
Greg
Purnhagen, Walter Du Melle,
basses
This work has been written in 2006 for the Foundation for Universal Sacred Music of New York, commission awarded through competition. The text has been
realized by the composer, after texts of different religious traditions.
The first performance has taken place on
November 4th, 2006, during
the 2nd Festival for Universal Sacred Music of New York. The Sangita Choir was directed by Susanne Peck.
Duration
of the work : approximately 13 minutes
The work alternates tensions and relaxations, as well
on the agogical as on the harmonic level. The first
part is a Sung of Praise, beginning in a solemn manner and continuing with a
more intimate passage, sung by the group of soloists. The second part begins
with two great crescendos, after which arise ecstatic 7th chords,
resolving the one on the other, before going back up to the climax. The work
ends on a long pentatonic chord.
The texts used
are taken from the Yotser (Jewish blessing from the
VIII. Century, after Isaiah 45:7), from the Ahava
(other Jewish blessing), from the Cherubinischer Wandersmann by Angelus Silesius,
from Psalm 145, from the Gospel according to the tradition of John, from the
great Hymn to the Sun (written at the time of Amenemhat
II), from two poems by Toukaram, from the Ekottarâgamasûtra, the Great Sûtra
of Infinite Life (Dai-Muryojukyo), the Sûtra of the Contemplation of Infinite Life (Kan-Muryojukyo), and from a mystical poem by Ibn ’Arabi.
Laurent
Mettraux