SKU: HL.14023340

ISBN 9788759871911. 8.25x11.75x0.115 inches. English.

To Nocturner (2001) - for Chamber Choir (12 or 24 Voices). Texts by Ole Sarvig and Ib Michael. English version available: KP01444E Programme note: These two choral pieces for 12 voices consists of radical recompositions on of earlier themes: in Summer's Sleep we hear new combinations of two 'Sarvig melodies' from the 1970s (one of which is now in the Danish Hymnbook under the title aret, The Year): Michael's Night is based on an earlier, simple choral song (Star Mirror,1987), now for 12 voices and composed such that an original idea of simultaneously displaced, opposite motions cf. the poem) comes out as desired. Of the Nocturnes Norgard writes: Summer's Sleep wascomposed to stanzas of Ole Sarvig's poem The Year (from the collection Forstadsdigte ('Suburban Poems')) and forms the picture of the summer of life, which is asleep - while the heaven seed waits for the summer wind (invisible to every mind). The many layers of text are expressed musically in a multilayered choral texture with 'looks' up and down through the various tempo and time-worlds: summer sleep, summer dream. The second nocturne, Michael's Night, takes its name from the author Ib Michael, whose poem Star Mirror (from the collection Himmelbegravelse ('Sky Funeral') (1986) I pushed/coaxed him to expand from one to nine stanzas. The four selected stanzas set in the nocturne focus on the pan-erotic elements of the moonlit, starlit night. With the titles I have chosen I have stressed the mythic layer of the text, the summer night not as a dream but as sensual reality. The two nocturnes are dedicated to Ivan Hansen on the occasion of his fiftieth birthday on 25th February 2003, out of gratitude for over a quarter of a century of inspiring collaboration.

SKU: HL.14023165

ISBN 9788759875544. 11.75x8.25x0.42 inches. Danish.

SKU: HL.14035536

SKU: BT.PMC3603

Four poems sharing a common motif of 'Night' provide the texts for my choral cycle Nocturnes, the American Choral Directors Association's commissioned work for its 2005 national convention. For Rilke's atmospheric Sa nuit d'ete,several melodic themes are supported by dense, colorful harmonies in both the choral and piano parts, leading to a climactic section where all are combined and stated simultaneously. Neruda's Soneto de la Noche, from his CienSonetos de Amor, speaks of an eternal love that transcends death while reaffirming life. My a cappella setting of this gorgeous poem is predominantly quiet, serene and folk-like, utilizing direct harmonies accompanying long,lyrical vocal lines. Agee's wondrous Sure on this Shining Night is set much like a song from the American musical theater, a genre for which I have held a life-long esteem. Rilke's poignant Voici le soir recalls the opening bellsounds and jazz-tinged chords of the first movement and serves as an epilogue, quietly concluding this cycle of night songs as darkness descends. --Morten Lauridsen.