Muehleisen / Choral Arts Northwest / Williams - But Who Shall Return Us Our Children - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Music for children plays an important role in Miloslav Kabelac's artistic oeuvre. Especially in the early days after the communist coup in 1948, the composer devoted himself to this genre 'I regard composing for children as a 'touchstone' not only for all creative abilities, but also for the human qualities of the composer. That is why I take this work as seriously and as importantly as any otherInch. In his music, Kabelac creates powerful atmospheric images with a playful sensitivity for language, some of which is highly onomatopoeic. His serious engagement with children's works is once again evident in the fact that Kabelac repeatedly quoted motifs and melodies from children's works in larger symphonic works.

Voices of Ascension - Centuries of Choral Music [COMPACT DISCS] date 11/18/2008

LI R'vindje di l'Åbe is a choral and symphonic work inspired by the Walloon poems of Henri Simon (1856-1939), LI Mwért di l'Åbe (1909) and it's sequel LI R'vindje di l'Åbe (1926). The first poem describes the majesty of an ancient oak tree, king of the landscape and refuge for birds and men, but the tree is felled for it's commercial value, and it's collapse leaves 'a hole in the sky'. The second poem picks up the story where it left off the woodcutters cut up the wood, which gradually leaves it's homeland. The poem, both serious and caustic, highlights the cyclical nature of life and the inevitability of death, whether for trees or humans. Both texts are composed of 75 unrhymed alexandrines, carried by a subtle internal rhythm.Patrick Leterme's musical setting unfolds these two poems over a period of approximately 90 minutes, featuring a mixed choir of 20 singers and an orchestra, it pays tribute to the Walloon region and it's figures (trees, birds, farmers, craftsmen). The composition incorporates wood sounds (branches, saws, logs) and percussion, which take turns as orchestral sections and stage protagonists through performative InchWood InterludesInch, the project is accompanied by ethnomusicological and linguistic research on popular heritage, aiming to connect the spirit of the poems with contemporary orchestration.This book and CD set is an elegant edition featuring the original poems, their translations, illustrations, and reflective texts by various authors on the genesis of the project, the Walloon language, and the environmental dimension of Henri Simon's work.