Mezzo-Soprano, Orchestra
SKU: HL.14010207
Composed by Brian Elias.
Music Sales America. 20th
Century. Score. Composed
2002. 128 pages. Chester
Music #CH59162. Published
by Chester Music
(HL.14010207).
ISBN
9780711924925. UPC:
196288152422.
9.0x12.0x0.306
inches.
Elias: I
first came across Irina
Ratushinskaya's poetry
when the collection 'No,
I'm Not Afraid' was
published in England in
early May 1986. The
poems, the various
circumstances in which
they were written and the
poet's integrity,
commitment and appalling
situation (she was still
imprisoned) all had a
tremendous impact upon
me. I was drawn
inexorably into the world
she describes so vividly.
The powerful imagery of
resistance, the
acceptance of shattering
realities and the
fantasies of different
kinds of escape made
poetry of truly universal
significance and urgency,
and the idea of a setting
for voice and large
orchestra followed
immediately. Each of the
settings (in Russian) is
self-contained and quite
different in mood and
orchestration. However, I
consider the songs as one
piece, and the whole
cycle is performed
without a break. All the
basic musical material,
themes and motifs for the
entire work are stated in
the first few pages, and
the order of the poems
was chosen to provide an
overall musical and
dramatic shape that
attempts to link them
together and to reflect
more than the immediate
meaning of the individual
poems.