The fifth century / Gavin Bryars.
Material type:
MusicPublisher number: ECM 2405 | ECM Records | (disc surface)B0025869-02 | ECM Records | (disc surface)Spoken language: English, Italian Series: ECM new seriesPublisher: München : ECM Records, [2016]Copyright date: ℗2016Description: 1 audio disc : digital, CD audio ; 4 3/4 inContent type: - performed music
- audio
- audio disc
- Choral music. Selections
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult CD
|
Main Library | CD | CLASSICAL Bryars, Gavin | Available | 33111009087509 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
Gavin Bryars has written a good deal of music in minimalist styles, but he makes room for a good deal of expressivity. He has not written much choral music, but this ECM release may make his fans wish he had written more. He emerges here as a kind of British counterpart to Arvo Pärt, with similarly spiritual and mystical leanings. The title The Fifth Century refers to the texts used in the seven-section work, which come from a series of prose poems entitled Centuries of Meditations by the 17th century English mystical poet Thomas Traherne; the texts here are drawn from the fifth volume. Many of the texts suggest a contemplation of eternity, and they're quite compelling ("Like the sun we dart our rays before us, and occupy those spaces with light and contemplation which we move towards, but possess not with our bodies"). Around the peaceful a cappella settings of these words, a saxophone quartet winds counterpoint and preludes. The work was commissioned by the small choir heard here, called The Crossing, and it would be hard to imagine a more sympathetic performance. Those new to Bryars could start with the Italian-language Two Love Songs, for a three-part female choir (or solo singers), which presents the spare, yet deeply emotional quality of Bryars' music in compact form. As usual with ECM, the sound engineers are among the stars of the show; their work on The Fifth Century, at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, is especially enchanting. ~ James Manheim
Sung in English (1st work) and Italian (2nd work).
Title from disc surface.
The Crossing ; PRISM Quartet (Timothy McAllister, soprano saxophone ; Robert Young, alto saxophone ; Matthew Levy, tenor saxophone ; Taimur Sullivan, baritone saxophone) (1st work) ; Kelly Ann Bixby, Karen Blanchard, Rebecca Siler, soloists (2nd work) ; Donald Nally, conductor.
1st work recorded 2014 July Gould Hall, Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia.
2nd work recorded 2015 June Saint Paul's Episcopal Church, Philadelphia.
Program notes by the composer and Brian Morton, and sung texts, (23 pages : portraits) inserted in container.
A collection of two works by the composer Gavin Bryars: The fifth century, a large-scale work for choir and saxophone quartet that uses text from Centuries of meditations, by the English poet and theologian Thomas Traherne; and, Two love songs, settings of Petrarch sonnets for female choir a cappella.
The fifth century. We see the heavens with our eyes (9:47) ; As sure as there is a space infinite (5:37) ; Infinity of space is like a painter's table (3:54) ; Eternity is a mysterious absence of times and ages (6:42) ; Eternity magnifies our joys exceedingly (3:17) ; His omnipresence is our field of joys (5:50) ; Our bridegroom and our king being everywhere (7:14) -- Two love songs. Io amai sempre (3:59) ; Solo et pensoso (3:47).