SKU: PE.EP68578
ISBN 9790300759630. English.
Of Time and Passing (2016) is a cycle of three choral songs written specifically for the London-based ensemble, VOCES8, taking into consideration their versatilityand ability to beautifully intone a range of vocal colors with precision and grace.
The first song, I. Life, sets my translation of the poem A Vida by Brazilian poet Olavo Bilac (1865-1918), a poet I discovered while studying Brazilian Portuguese at the University of Michigan. I was drawn both to the simplicity of the text and to the possibilities of teasing out dual contrasting moods. In the beginning and end, this song explores a texture that is very much alive: wave-like contours, throbbing sounds, and plenty of flowing movement. Rising eighth-note motives in particular emphasize the fleetingness of life. But in the middle of the song, the listener is given a slowed-down atmosphere to savor life's beauty.
II. To Everything a Season capitalizes on VOCES8's ability to effectively interpret popular genres a cappella. This ancient text is taken from Ecclesiastes (dated around 300 B.C.) but I set it to a modern, rhythmically-regular and percussive pop-style idiom. Since popular music in whatever era is designedto appeal to a specific ?present time?, it is by its very nature ephemeral, and therefore seemed an apt metaphor to evoke the transitory nature of seasons.
III. Into Your Hands, confines the writing into no more than four parts, often with octave unisons.This creates a more direct and word-focused setting in which the Psalmist?s urgent words are placed at the forefront. Largely homophonic, this song is at times chorale-like, at times madrigal-like,finally relinquishing it?s tension into peaceful rest, proclaiming ?You have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God??
- Daniel Knaggs
SKU: C4.9790902257183
ISBN 9790902257183. 8.27 x 11.7 inches.
Commissioned by Christopher and Nicola Lock for the St James's Church, King Street Organ Replacement & Restoration Appeal in November 2019, this is a beautifully radiant introit, with text taken from a liturgical book of processions, dating from about 1526.Shelly explains: The format for the plainchant is such that there is a response, a verse, and repetitions of the response. I haven't replicated the format in my work, instead setting it as one 'run-through' of the text in a full choral setting. I've also set it in a way that the ending doesn't sound final. This is deliberate because as an Introit, it is an introduction to the liturgy, and I want the piece to 'lead in' to the rest of the liturgy..
SKU: PE.EP71816A
ISBN 9790577020402. 420 x 297mm inches. English. Rumi Rumi; translation by Andrew Harvey.
Love Abide encapsulates the very contemporary ethos of multicultural spiritual devotion in a world populated by a rich diversity of faiths--all feeling, as deeply and as aesthetically, the compelling potency of music with love. A rich offering on a theme of interfaith connectivity. The Japanese lullaby-inspired Zen Love Song and the title work Love Abide are totally absorbing.BBC Music Magazine, 5 starsWith its outspoken positive approach, Love Abide is like a musical bouquet of healing herbs. Roxana Panufnuik's beautifully crafted music is inventive and truly enjoyable. The Colla Voce Singers produce singing of exceptional quality, with impressive control and a very good balance. Remy Franck, www.pizzicato.lu, 5 starsIf I had to choose a 'glass-half-full' contemporary composer, then Roxanna Panufnik would be near the top of my list. Her Music exudes openness and inclusivity, and it is in the choral settings where hope and positivity - two words that lie at the heart of her work - are most keenly felt. ... much of her recent work can be seen to be built on the solid foundations laid down on this impressively varied and diverse collection. A music of hope in dark and troubled times. Pwyll ap Sion, Gramophone Magazine.This product is Printed on Demand and may take several weeks to fulfill. Please order from your favorite retailer.
SKU: HL.49045601
ISBN 9790001166256. UPC: 841886032682. 7.5x10.75x0.067 inches. Latin. Psalm 89.
About 40 compositions, including half for accompanying and unaccompanied choir, are currently in the catalog of young Polish composer Katarzyna Danel (born 1992). After several national composition competitions, she won the 13th International Composition Competition Musica Sacra Nova with her Misericordias Domini for eight-part mixed choir a cappella. The complex spiritual a cappella choir is based on the Gregorian chant of the same name (Psalm 89,2). Three principal structures are characteristic of this Latin-language choral piece: on the one hand, aleatoric sound clouds in major pentatonic scales, soundally supported by long-held organum-like notes taken from the Gregorian choral melody; As well as a renaissance-like polyphony, which is linked with modern harmony; And finally long static chords that blend into harmony and space. A wonderfully mystical-spherical composition, which also gives the individual performer the possibility of individual design through the ad libitum passages marked in the sheet music.
SKU: CA.742900
ISBN M-007-25230-4. Language: Hebrew.
The a cappella motet Alleluja (2018) is a song of longing which resonates existential need as well as the hope of a profound connection to God. In the beginning, which is delicate and motivically very concentrated but metrically deliberately uncoordinated, more and more voices gather to sing together, until suddenly, starting from the bass, a violent and rhythmically exalted incantation breaks out. The following fortissimo unison in a high register is the climax of the entire work piece. In the Abgesang, the beginning is taken up, but now in a polyphonic and harmonically intensified setting. The end in A major seems like a salvation. The work has been released on the CD Rejoice. Vocal Music by Kay Johannsen (Carus 83.496/00).
