for Soprano and Piano. Par LEFANU NICOLA. The Moth-Ghost by Nicola LeFanu is a 10-minute dramatic scena for soprano and piano, setting a poem by James Harpur. The work tells the story of Thetis, a sea-goddess of Greek mythology, who knew that her son Achilles must die. In the poem, she is a grief-stricken mother, mourning his death in the Trojan war. The imagery of the poem and the music is of the…

Par TYSHAWN SOREY. Commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association for a world premiere by the LA Phil New Music Group in January 2019, Tyshawn Sorey's gently tolling chamber work For Fred Lerdahl is dedicated to the elder composer on the occasion of Lerdahl's retirement. Sorey credits Lerdahl as one of two teachers who helped him to find his own voice as a composer. A single, 13-minute m…

for Baritone and Piano. Par PHILIPS JULIAN. Swift Partitions by Julian Philips is a 13-minute set of songs for baritone and piano. This setting of eight short poems by American poet Emily Dickinson, each exploring her relationship to the sea, is not narrative, but instead alternates philosophical meditations on the sea (Songs 1, 3, 5 8) with more immediate \'encounters\': a surreal walk with the s…

Oratorio for Solo Tenor, Solo Violin, SATB, Children's Choir and Orchestra of Strings, Harp and Perc. Par ROTH ALEC. Alec Roth’s The Traveller is an oratorio for solo tenor, solo violin, SATB choir, children’s choir and an orchestra of strings, harp and percussion. In addition to writing six new poems for the piece, Vikram Seth has made English translations of twenty Indian texts from a rich varie…

Par ESENVALDS ERIKS. Stars is one of the most popular of all contemporary choral works by Latvian composer Eriks E?envalds. The music begins with water-tuned glasses playing a sequence of chord clusters, which are heard throughout the whole piece. It creates an evocative effect, which is both imaginative and inventive prodcing an ethereal shimmering beauty. Phillip Littlemore's expert arrangement …

Par ESENVALDS ERIKS. Only in Sleep is a nostalgic vision of childhood re-experienced through dreams. Eriks E?envalds has created a work of subtlety, yet powerful and expressive. The music has an incandescent freshness and the Flugel Horn soloist heard at the opening returns at the close, lost in reverie, whilst florid arabesques float over one last pair of chordal oscillations, winding down to not…

Par ESENVALDS ERIKS. O Salutaris Hostia is one of Eriks E?envalds? most popular pieces. Originally written for female voices, the composer later created a version for full choir on which this arrangement is based. It has a gentle meditation with the two soloists drifting across the soft band accompaniment, alternately echoing and imitating each other or joining together in thirds. The effect is qu…