Darkness into Light

SKU: GI.G-8880

UPC: 785147888000. English. Text Source: 1 Peter 2:4–10, NRSV, alt. Scripture: 1 Peter 2:4–10.

With a text that calls us to stand with our church community, “Out of Darkness into Light” is a gratifying anthem that your choir will sing with conviction. The elegant and attentive writing for organ supports the piece, while bringing unique colors to the setting.

SKU: SU.80101403

Symphony for Organ (2013) is cast as a dramatic progression from darkness into light. The first movement, Masque, is extremely violent and bleak. The title is used with a touch of irony--for this is not a masque of courtly diversion, but rather a furious struggle against the darkness, played out in a series of dramatic episodes following a Tudor-era formal design. The ending builds to a dramatic peak, and leaves us in shell-shocked silence. The second movement, Sarabande, begins quietly and mournfully, and gradually gains in fervency. A faster middle section is a spinning dance before the return of the opening music. In the coda, the light gradually approaches. The third movement, Chorale, evokes the colors of a new dawn. The music of the first movement's struggle gradually becomes washed in the blaze of morning. Instrumentation: Organ Duration: 21' Composed: 2013 Published by: Zimbel Press.

SKU: CA.966800

ISBN 9790007172190. Language: Latin.

The text of the Responsorium O magnum mysterium, to be sung liturgically in the midnight darkness, describes the mystery of Christ's incarnation, from darkness into light. In three sections, the music increases from a piano sound to the concluding Halleluja. In ever-new harmonies, the lyrical-Gregorian motifs emerge in sequences of sixths within the dense, four-part writing. The musical language is modal-harmonic with constantly surprising turns. This highly atmospheric piece is good to sing, but requires a reasonably-sized choir because the work doesn't give the voices any opportunity to rest.

SKU: FG.55011-372-5

ISBN 9790550113725.

Images of the sea figure prominently throughout my life and memories: from holidays on the Atlantic coast during my Canadian childhood to my current Baltic home, and the imagined, only later experienced Mediterranean of my ancestral heritage. As an immigrant (son of an immigrant) bound to two northern countries, the sea is emblematic of my twin homelands, from the expanses of water surrounding them to those separating them. A Mari usque ad Mare. The sea is also an enduring image of the unknown, of expanses unexplored, of the raw power of nature and, for too many currently, of terror holding a hope of refuge - or the pain of loss.
Such disparate ideas were captured for me in the seascapes of the New York painter MaryBeth Thielhelm, whom I met in 2008 during a residency on the Gulf of Mexico. Her vast, abstract, nearly monochromatic depictions of imaginary seas in wildly varying moods were the catalyst for a concerto where the piano is frequently far from a hero battling a collective, but rather acts as a channel for elemental forces surging up from the orchestra, floating - sometimes barely so - on its constantly shifting surface. There are few themes to speak of, beyond a handful of iconic ideas that periodically cycle upward. Rather, the piano's material is largely an ornamentation of the more primal rhythmic and harmonic impulses from the orchestra below - a poetic interpretation, if you will, of the more immediate experience of facing the vastness of some unknown body of water.
The title Nameless Seas is borrowed from one of Thielhelm's exhibitions, as are those of the four movements, which are bridged together into two halves of roughly equal weight - one rhapsodic and free, the other more single-minded and direct, separated only by a short breath. The opening movement, Nocturne, is predominantly calm, if brooding, darkness and light alternating throughout. Lyrical arabesques sparkle over gently lapping cross-currents in the strings and mirrored timpani, the piano's full power only rarely deployed. The waves gradually build, drawing in the full orchestra for a meeting of forces in Land and Sea, a brighter, more warmly lyrical scene that unfolds in series of dreamlike, sometimes even nostalgic visions, which for me carry strong memories of sitting on rocks above surging Atlantic waves. The third movement, Wake, is a fast, perpetual-motion texture of glinting, darting rhythms and sudden shafts of light, with a prominent part for the steel drums, limning the piano's quicksilver figurations. An ecstatic climax crashes into a solo cadenza that grows progressively calmer and more introspective rather than virtuosic. Much of the tension finally releases into Unclaimed Waters, a drifting, meditative seascape in which the piano is progressively engulfed by a series of ever-taller waves, ultimately dissolving into a tolling, rippling continuum of sound.
It has been a great privilege to realize such a long-held dream as this piece, and to write it for not one, but two great pianists. Risto-Matti Marin and Angela Hewitt, both of whose friendship and support have been unfailing and humbling, share the dedication. Nameless Seas was commissioned by the PianoEspoo festival and Canada's National Arts Centre, with the premieres in Ottawa and Helsinki led by Hannu Lintu and Olari Elts. Thanks are due also to the Jenny and Antti Wihuri fund, whose generous grant provided me with much-needed time, and Escape to Create in Seaside, Florida, the source to which I returned to do a large part of the work.

SKU: BO.B.3292

English comments:
This is the definitive version of Biogenesis, a piece that Cervello had written in 1976, together with his friend Jorge Wagensberg, and which was awarded the First Prize at the Spanish Ministry for Education and Science's Permanent Composition and Musical Research Competition. The new version was made at 1984-85 Lux et umbra is written for a string group consisting of four first and four second violins, three violas, three cellos and a double bass. The conceptual battle between darkness and light is represented by the instability between the notes B and C, and by the compartmentation of the group of fifteen strings into divisi that provide an independent arrangement for each instrument, thus bestowing great substance upon the texture of the music. A cello cadence emerges from a slow and straightforward beginning. A process of contrasts then begins, culminating in a molto vivace passage of a scherzando nature, which alludes to the Baroque concerti grossi. The music once again plays with chiaroscuro until reaching its climax, from which point the conclusion slowly begins, establishing itself in the high register until fading away. The work was first performed at Barcelona's Palau de la Musica by the English Chamber Orchestra, directed by Enrique Garcia Asensio, in 1987. That same year, in the newspaper El Pais, the observations of the composer and critic Francesc Taverna-Bech paid tribute to the work's intelligence as regards the use of and search for instrumental resources (in this case, string instruments, about which Cervello knows a great deal), the skill involved in endowing the lyrical line with tension, and a singular touch that confers formal essence upon the musical discourse. In La Vanguardia, Jordi Llovet wrote that this is a work in which, as is the case with most of Cervello's compositions, the listener finds something covertly religious, a mysterious secret, a transcendence linked to the origins of communication requiring more than a single being, which provides excitement. In 1990, when the Orquesta de Granada (Orchestra of Granada) performed the work at Barcelona's Grec festival, the critic Cesar Calmell opined, in the same newspaper, that inch by inch, surely and imperturbably, Cervello built up a perfect world that reflects the image of the craftsman who, so astonished at the delights of his trade, is unable to do anything but turn the very backdrop of tragedy into something pleasant. Lux et umbra was recorded by the Orchestra Estatal of the Hermitage, conducted by Alexis Soriano (CD SA01210 Fundacion Autor). --Xavier Casanoves Danes Music critic

Comentarios del Espanol:
Se trata de la version definitiva de Biogenesis, obra que habia escrito en 1976 en colaboracion con su amigo Jorge Wagensberg y que obtuvo el Primer Premio, en el ano de su creacion, en el Concurso Permanente de Composicion e Investigacion Musical del Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia. La nueva version fue realizada en 1984-85. Lux et umbra esta escrita para un grupo de cuerda integrado por cuatro primeros violines, cuatro segundos, tres violas, tres violoncelos y un contrabajo. El combate filosofico entre la oscuridad y la luz lo lleva a cabo la inestabilidad entre las notas si y do y la compartimentacion del grupo de quince cuerdas en unos divisi que llegan a una escritura independiente para cada instrumento, otorgando una gran importancia a la textura sonora. De un principio lento y descarnado emerge una cadencia del violonchelo. A continuacion da comienzo un proceso de contrastes que culmina en un pasaje molto vivace de caracter scherzando que alude a los concerti grossi del barroco. La musica juega de nuevo con el claroscuro hasta llegar a la cumbre sonora iniciando el final lentamente que se instala en el registro agudo hasta desvanecerse. La estreno en el Palau de la Musica de Barcelona la English Chamber Orchestra en el ano 1987 bajo la direccion de Enrique Garcia Asensio. Ese mismo ano, en el periodico El Pais, el compositor y critico Francesc Taverna-Bech reconocia en sus comentarios la inteligencia en el uso y la busqueda de los recursos instrumentales -en este caso la cuerda, de la que Cervello es profundo conocedor-, la destreza para revestir de tension la linea lirica y un tacto particular para conferir entidad formal al discurso sonoro. Jordi Llovet, en La Vanguardia, escribia que en esta obra, se encuentra, como en la mayor parte de la produccion de Cervello, algo secretamente religioso, un arcano misterioso, una trascendencia vinculada a los origenes de la comunicacion impracticable con el ser unico que resulta apasionante. En el ano 1990, cuando la Orquesta de Granada la toco en el Grec de Barcelona, era el critico Cesar Calmell quien, en el mismo periodico consideraba que Cervello construyo palmo a palmo, segura e imperturbablemente, un mundo perfecto que refleja la imagen del artesano que, de tan admirado con las delicias de su oficio, no puede hacer otra cosa que convertir en agradable el fondo mismo de la tragedia. Lux et umbra esta grabada por la Orquesta Estatal del Hermitage, dirigida por Alexis Soriano (CD SA01210 Fundacion Autor). --Xavier Casanoves Danes Critico musical.

SKU: PR.31241902A

UPC: 680160690510. English.

Commissioned by the San Francisco Choral Society and the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir, Terra Nostra is a 70-minute oratorio on the relationship between our planet and humankind, how this relationship has shifted over time, and how we can re-establish a harmonious balance. Part I: Creation of the World explores various creation myths from different cultures, culminating in a joyous celebration of the beauty of our planet. Part II: The Rise of Humanity examines human achievements, particularly since the dawn of our Industrial Age, and how these achievements have impacted the planet. Part III: Searching for Balance questions how to create more awareness for our planet’s plight, re-establish a deeper connection to it, and find a balance for living within our planet’s resources. In addition to the complete oratorio, stand-alone movements for mixed chorus, and for solo voice with piano, are also available separately.
Terra Nostra focuses on the relationship between our planet and mankind, how this relationship has shifted over time, and how we can re-establish a harmonious balance. The oratorio is divided into three parts:Part I: Creation of the World celebrates the birth and beauty of our planet. The oratorio begins with creation myths from India, North America, and Egypt that are integrated into the opening lines of Genesis from the Old Testament. The music surges forth from these creation stories into “God’s World” by Edna St. Vincent Millay, which describes the world in exuberant and vivid detail. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “On thine own child” praises Mother Earth for her role bringing forth all life, while Walt Whitman sings a love song to the planet in “Smile O voluptuous cool-breathed earth!” Part I ends with “A Blade of Grass” in which Whitman muses how our planet has been spinning in the heavens for a very long time.Part II: The Rise of Humanity examines the achievements of mankind, particularly since the dawn of the Industrial Age. Lord Alfred Tennyson’s “Locksley Hall” sets an auspicious tone that mankind is on the verge of great discoveries. This is followed in short order by Charles Mackay’s “Railways 1846,” William Ernest Henley’s “A Song of Speed,” and John Gillespie Magee, Jr.’s “High Flight,” each of which celebrates a new milestone in technological achievement. In “Binsey Poplars,” Gerard Manley Hopkins takes note of the effect that these advances are having on the planet, with trees being brought down and landscapes forever changed. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “A Dirge” concludes Part II with a warning that the planet is beginning to sound a grave alarm.Part III: Searching for Balance questions how we can create more awareness for our planet’s plight, re-establish a deeper connection to it, and find a balance for living within our planet’s resources. Three texts continue the earth’s plea that ended the previous section: Lord Byron’s “Darkness” speaks of a natural disaster (a volcano) that has blotted out the sun from humanity and the panic that ensues; contemporary poet Esther Iverem’s “Earth Screaming” gives voice to the modern issues of our changing climate; and William Wordsworth’s “The World Is Too Much With Us” warns us that we are almost out of time to change our course. Contemporary/agrarian poet Wendell Berry’s “The Want of Peace” speaks to us at the climax of the oratorio, reminding us that we can find harmony with the planet if we choose to live more simply, and to recall that we ourselves came from the earth. Two Walt Whitman texts (“A Child said, What is the grass?” and “There was a child went forth every day”) echo Berry’s thoughts, reminding us that we are of the earth, as is everything that we see on our planet. The oratorio concludes with a reprise of Whitman’s “A Blade of Grass” from Part I, this time interspersed with an additional Whitman text that sublimely states, “I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love…”My hope in writing this oratorio is to invite audience members to consider how we interact with our planet, and what we can each personally do to keep the planet going for future generations. We are the only stewards Earth has; what can we each do to leave her in better shape than we found her?

SKU: KN.09998S

UPC: 822795099980.

Inspired by the beautiful landscapes the composer has seen on long road trips across the U.S., this powerful original features the pandiatonic harmonies and open-sounding intervals (fourths and fifths) that are reminiscent of the music of Aaron Copland, making it sound very American from start to finish. It portrays that moment when darkness gives way to light on the distant horizon, starting with a glimmer and eventually bursting into a brilliant sky to mark the start of a new day. Duration 3:40 . Available in SmartMusic.