September 23, 2010

Los Angeles Master Chorale - Philip Glass

Itaipú is a large-scale work for chorus and orchestra set to a Guaraní text. Itaipú is the world’s largest dam located on the border between Paraguay and Brazil. The piece is cast in four movements: Mato Grosso, The Lake, The Dam, To the Sea. The piece is part of the composer’s interest Brazil, but also in indigenous cultures of the Americas which continues to this day. Commissioned and written for the Québec Festival 1534-1984, Three Songs for Chorus a Cappella presents three pieces set to poems by three different North American poets. The first song, There are Some Men, is by singer-songwriter and poet Leonard Cohen (whose poetry was later the basis of an evening length song-cycle by Glass titled Book of Longing.) The second song, Quand les Hommes vivront d’Amour, by singer-songwriter/poet/artist Raymond Lévesque is a wish for peace and happiness through love. The third song, Pierre de Soleil, by poet Octavio Paz is mediation on existential selflessness (“les autres qui me donnent l’existence.”) 2311 CD 18.95

Posted by acapnews at September 23, 2010 10:48 PM