/ Marimba
SKU: GI.G-8657
ISBN 9781622770649.
Edited and Photographed by Michael Stillwater  Waldron Island Reflections offers images and words from Shining Night, the award-winning documentary film about the life and music of Morten Lauridsen. Morten Lauridsen, among the leading American composers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, draws his inspiration from the serenity of nature. In his summer residence on remote Waldron Island in the San Juan Archipelago many of his greatest works are composed. For anyone who appreciates nature as inspiration for creativity, Waldron Island Reflections provides a glimpse into a unique Pacific Northwest haven where timeless words are given a musical voice through Lauridsen’s sublime artistry. About the music of Morten Lauridsen: In 2007 Morten Lauridsen received the National Medal of Arts, the highest artistic award in the United States, from the President in a White House ceremony “for his composition of radiant choral works combining musical beauty, power, and spiritual depth.†He is Distinguished Professor of Composition at the USC Thornton School of Music, Los Angeles. www.mortenlauridsen.net/ “For those of us who need great music to live and feel more fully, these works speak clearly to the soul and illuminate our greater hope.â€â€“ St. Louis Post-Dispatch “This is celestial and spine-tingling stuff. Contemporary choral music really doesn’t come any better than this.†– Daily Express  Michael Stillwater is a filmmaker and music educator whose award-winning documentary, Shining Night: A Portrait of Composer Morten Lauridsen, was deemed “a heartening rarity†by Terry Teachout, Wall Street Journal. www.shiningnightfilm.net.
SKU: HL.4008730
ISBN 9798350119473. UPC: 196288195238.
The last decades we humans have witnessed a significant number of disturbing developments. If we look at the direct and persistent destructive influence of humans on nature: air and water quality are reducing, soils are depleting, crops are short of pollinators, coasts are less protected from storms, deforestation, the degradation of land, loss of biodiversity and pollution. In stark contrast we find the intelligence and boundless creativity of humans: what about all the high technological advancements? What lies ahead in the realm of Artificial Intelligence? Will we let machines make human decisions? What ethical issues arise there? This composition reflects the desperation and urgency of the human need for action. The music draws inspiration from the brutal natural forces that ravage our world as a direct consequence of human failure and selfishness. Are we heading towards a 'Judgment Day'? Or will humanity find a way to reverse negative trends towards a more livable, peaceful, and joyful environment for humans, animals, and nature? To underscore this message, composer Peter Knockaert opted for a highly classical idiom that has been used by many composers in classical music: the 'Dies Irae'. Traditionally, the Dies Irae is the third part of a requiem (funeral mass). The text used in 'Judgment DayÂ? (for optional choir) is coming from the original Latin text.
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SKU: HL.4008731
UPC: 196288195245.