Work Songs (HARRISON SADIE)

Via Della Fortuna by Sadie Harrison. Written in 2013 especially for the St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra and Donatus Katkus.6; for String OrchestraWorld premiere: 25th April 2013 St. Katharine'sChurch Vilnius St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra conducted by Donatus Katkus.UK premiere: 10th May 2013 Cardiff Millennium Centre Vale of Glamorgan Festival.I - Casa di Caccia Antica (The House of the AncientHunt)II - Casa degli Amorini Dorati (The House of the Golden Cupids)III - Casa del poeta tragico (The House of the tragic poet)IV - Return to the Casa di Caccia Antica and northwards to Lithuania and the Amber Road(Gintaro Kelias)The piece is in four short movements each taking its title from one of the houses that line the main streets in Pompeii. Borrowing Mussorgsky's 'Promenade' from Pictures at an Exhibition the piece has twowalkers (violas) who take the listener with them onto the Via Della Fortuna then lead them from house to house. Several amber objects were found within the houses linking Pompeii with Lithuania. The lastmovement returns to the House of the Ancient Hunt then heads northwards along the Gintaro Kelias. The jubilant closing music refers to an earlier work (Geda's Weavings) based on Lithuanian folksongs.

Dast Be Dast ('Hand to hand in friendship') was commissioned by Cuatro Puntos a pioneering ensemble of chamber musicians dedicated to global cooperation and peace through the writing and performance of new music worldwide.The piece was written specifically for their violist Kevin Bishop and for Rubab player Samim Zafar a student of the extraordinary Afghanistan National Institute for Music (ANIM) in Kabul. Kevin suggested that the piece should represent the two distinct but equal musical cultures of the performers and as such both players are required to adopt characteristics of each other's traditions both techniques andlanguages.Dast Be Dast illuminates various aspects of Afghan and Western music-making with both instruments exploring improvisation alongside notation controlled imitation with spontaneous elaboration and Western tonality within Afghan scales. The piece is based on three Afghan songs each heard clearly in the three movements which are played without a break:I Anar Anar (Pomegranates): a fast song where the two instruments imitate each other gradually becoming more and more elaborate.II Allah Hu (This is God): a meditative movement for solo viola based on a specific interpretation of Allah Hu sung as a lullaby by Veronica Doubleday in 2004.III Watan Jan (Dear Homeland): based on a whirling atan dance in 7/8. Gradually getting faster and faster the players have to keep up with each other's virtuosity.The work was premiered by Samim and Kevin on 23 June 2014 at ANIM Kabul Afghanistan.The work is dedicated to them both with admiration.