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CONCERT PROGRAMME

September 28th 7.30 pm

● Pavel Chesnokov (1877-1944), Spaséniye Sodélal

Spaséniye sodélal is the Russian title for Pavel Chesnokov’s famous choral piece “Salvation is Created”. It draws its origins from an ancient melody from the Kiev Synodal repertoire. Pavel Chesnokov set to music Psalm 74 infusing it with great intensity and emotion, and the result was a choral work of intense spirituality and mystical inspiration. Voices enter solemnly, mingle with growing pathos and reach a majestic solemnity in the final reiterations announcing divine salvation is creat

Randall Thompson (1899-1984), Tarantella

Randall Thompson was an American composer and professor and Leonard Bernstein was one of his students at Harvard. "Tarantella", definitely one of the most representative pieces of his choral work, was composed in 1937 for the Harvard Glee Club and it is based on a poem by Hilaire Belloc about a girl called Miranda and a lively inn in the high Pyrenees. Both the poem and the composition mean to carry the echoes of a jolly festive atmosphere that no longer exists. Intended for a male choir with piano accompaniment, the composition unconventionally recalls the tarantella, that is the world-wide famous dance from southern Italy.

● Popular Catalan, El cant dels Ocells harmonization by Daniele Zanettovich

Among the finest expressions of the Catalan musical tradition, this song is simultaneously a hymn, a lullaby, and a prayer dating back to the Middle Ages. It tells about the birth of Jesus, announced by a large flock of birds calling through their song peace and communion among peoples. Cellist Pau Casals set the poem to music and it soon became a popular song beloved by Catalans who for centuries have passed it down from father to son, generation after generation.

● Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868), Preghiera

There were years in which the Italian musical scene seemed to be stuck and have little interest in experimenting new choral compositional techniques: in those years a no-longer young Gioacchino Rossini found in the sophisticated circle of Paris new inspiration for his research in melody, harmonic and instrumental colour, and dramatic form. Preghiera (“Tu che di verde il prato”) was played for the first time in Turin in 1898, three decades after his death, and it requires at least seven male voices; the piece is part of Pèchès de vieillesse: small-scale pieces of salon music meant to be performed in private gatherings in his home. Preghiera showcases Rossini's musical ingenuity, blending humor with deep emotion, and showing a genuine

mastery in composition for a man who had little by little decided to plunge in a disenchanted creative divertissement of his own.

● Kentaro Sato (1981), Expergisci

Japanese composer Kentaro Sato wrote Expergisci (Awakening) and translated the lyrics into Latin to convey a sacred aura for this initiatory chant of rebirth. The peace of dawn, the breath of nature, the song of birds at sunrise are some of the evocative moments of an Eden to rediscover and appreciate. A secular flight of the soul calling for peace and brotherhood.

● Giovanni Sollima (1962), from “Canti Rocciosi” Guerra adaptation by Ferdinando Mussutto

Loosely inspired by Ernest Hemingway's novel "A Farewell to Arms," the sixth movement of Sollima's "Canti Rocciosi" suite was composed to celebrate the day the Dolomites were numbered among UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Surprisingly, it is a heart-felt accusation against mankind, still unable to stay away from wars and conflict: "Why don't they stop fighting?" is the simple question resounding amid sirens and disquieting sounds: the result is a powerful condemnation of all wars, past and present, wishing a future free from people and peoples at war.

● Manolo da Rold (1976), Ubi Caritas

The hymn is originally attributed to Paulinus II of Aquileia (Saint Paulinus II, Patriarch of Aquileia, c. 726 – 11 January 802 or 804 AD) and scholars suggest it was used as an antiphon for the ceremony of foot washing occurring on Maundy Thursday. In Manolo Da Rold's version the short chant perfectly renders the atmosphere of humility and hospitality surrounding the Last Supper. Rituals and ceremonies from an ancient past are given new life through music and serve as a reminder for the community to embody self-giving love and to see Christ in others through acts of service, care, and forgiveness. “Where there is charity and love, God is there. The song soars in expressive crescendos, calling for a universal peace to last forever and ever.

● Giovanni Sollima, from “Canti Rocciosi” Madonie adaptation by Ferdinando Mussutto

Here is another piece from the seven-movement suite that the Sicilian cellist and composer wrote in 2001 to celebrate the Dolomites' inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage Site: "Madonie" draws inspiration from an ancient folk text from Polizzi Generosa (PA), Sicily, which is here made into song in verses. The song moves following a sharp rhythm, accompanied by lively handclaps and supported by an unusual instrumental ensemble: as if to suggest that sounds from the past will always carry an echo in the present.

● Eric Whitacre (1978), Lux aurumque

"Light of God" is the subtitle given to this choral piece by American composer Eric Whitacre, inspired by a poem by Edward Esch and translated into Latin by Anthony Silvestri. It is a refined song, with tight and balanced harmonic lines, rendered by low baritones resembling a natural human conversation. Voices sing intermingling into a lofty song of spirituality: the effect is that of a light, warm, and pure intimacy as if angels were sweetly singing to the newborn.

Texts by Alessio Screm, translated by Manuela Tellin