Abraham and Isaac

A Biblical Tone Poem for Symphonic Band / Poema Bíblico Sinfónico-La Bible contient un récit faisant mention d?un sacri_x001C_fice humain non consumé lorsque peu de temps après la naissance de son fils Isaac Abraham reçu l?ordre de Dieu de lui offrir son fils en holocauste sur le Mont Moriah. Ce poème symphonique qui brosse le portrait de la vie du patriarche est une oeuvre de contrastes très marqués. La douceur de l?existence humaine et divine est en opposition permanente avec l?inquiétude la peur et le sacrifice.

When the BBC commissioned this work for the Last Night of the Proms 2018 I was given quite a detailed brief. First the work should be for the BBC Singers and BBC Symphony Chorus (with the BBC Symphony Orchestra) and the two choirs should be quite independent of each other. Secondly the words should acknowledge the centenary of the end of World War I but look optimistically to the future. For the centenary I chose In the Underworld by World War I poet Isaac Rosenberg written in 1914. Originally about unrequited love it can read if you do not know its context as a prophetic look at the next four years with the sense that the women left at home cannot begin tocomprehend the horrors their men face in the trenches. The BBC Singers represent Rosenberg and their music is based on a beautiful Ashkenazi-Jewish prayer mode â?? also known as the â??Ukrainian Gypsyâ?? mode. While I was reading The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran (written in 1923) I came across these lines which seem to answer and assuage the fears expressed in Rosenbergâ??s poem. The BBC Symphony Chorus take on the role of Gibran singing in a beautiful melismatic Maronite Syriac chant into which faith Gibran was born in Lebanon. Later in his life he became very interested in Islam particularly Sufism; therefore the whole piece is in the form of a Sufi Zikr with Sufi devotional rhythms in the percussion starting quiet and low but slowly becoming higher faster and louder. The two choirs start separately but merge into a â??conversation â?? sometimes overlapping and ending on a positive note: Rosenbergâ??s Creature of light and happiness over Gibranâ??s We shall build a tower in the sky. Quite by accident all three Abrahamic faiths are represented in this piece â?? but as Kahlil Gibran famously said: â??You are my brother and I love you. I love you when you prostrate yourself in your mosque and kneel in your church and pray in your synagogue. You and I are sons of one faith â?? the Spirit.'

A SermonAbraham and IsaacAgonCanticum SancrumCapriccioChoral Variations on Von Himmel hochConcertinoConcerto for Piano and WindsConcerto for ViolinConcerto in Eb (Dumbarton Oaks)Danses ConcertantesDivetimentoEight Instrumental MiniaturesFour EtudesFour Norwegian MoodsJeu des CartesMassMavraMomentum pro GesualdoMovements for Piano and OrchestraNarrative and PrayerOctetOedipus RexOrpheusPersephonePetrouchkaPulcinellaRenardRequiem CanticlesScenes de BalletSeptetSong of the NightingaleSuites 1 & 2 for Small OrchestraSymphonies of Wind InstrumentsSymphony in CSymphony in Three MovementsSymphony of PsalmsThe Fariy's KissThe Firebird (Ballet and Suite)The FloodThe NightingaleThe Rake's ProgressThe Rite of SpringThe Soldier's TaleVariationsAldous Huxley in memoriam / Basson / Boosey & Hawkes

From the James Jordan Choral Series this is a dramatic work for mixed chorus with piano on a text by British poet Wilfred Owen.