Madrigali 'Fire Songs' 1: Ov'E, Lass'

Madrigals by the Renaissance composer Monteverdi provided the inspiration for my own Madrigali. Symbolic images of flames burning and fire recur often in Italian love poems from this era and my cycle on texts employingthis fire motive blends stylistic musical features of the period (word painting modality bold harmonic shifts intricate counterpoint augenmusik etc.) within a contemporary compositional idiom. The music emanates from asingle primal sonority (the “Fire-Chord”) which opens the piece and is found extensively throughout all six movements in myriad forms and manipulations providing motivic unity to complement the poetic. This cycle ofmadrigals has been designated an American Choral Masterpiece by the National Endowment for the Arts.--Morten Lauridsen

Ces chansons de feu ont été inspirés par les chorales chefs-d'oeuvre de la haute Renaissance, surtout les madrigaux par Monteverdi et Gesualdo. Il s'agit d'un cycle intensément dramatique basé sur des poèmes d'amour Renaissance, mélangeant des caractéristiques stylistiques musicales de la période avec un idiome contemporain mélodique. / Voix Mixtes