Lauridsen: Madrigali, II (Quando Son Più Lontan)

Quando Son Più Lontan Quando son più lontan de’ bei vostri occi Che m’han fatto cangiar voglia et costumi, Cresce la fiamma et mi conduce a morte;

Et voi, che per mia sorte Potresti raffrenar la dolce fiamma, Mi negate la fiamma che m’infiamma.

—Text from a madrigal by Ivo

When I am farther from your beautiful eyes That made me change my wishes and my ways, The flame grows and leads me to my death;

And you, who for my fate Could restrain the sweet flame, Deny me the flame that inflames me.

—Translation by Erica Muhl

The Madrigali: Six “Fire-Songs” on Renaissance Italian Poems have been featured at major choral festivals throughout the world, including the American Music Festival at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Swedish Choral Festival in Stockholm and numerous American Choral Directors Association conventions. Hailed by the Los Angeles Times as “stunningly crafted”, the Madrigali are unified textually by romantic references to fire in each of the poems.

Characteristic Italian Renaissance “madrigalisms” such as word painting, modality, bold harmonic shifts, intricate counterpoint and augenmusik occur throughout the cycle.

Morten Lauridsen writes: “The choral masterpieces of the High Renaissance, especially the sacred works of Josquin and Palestrina and the secular madrigals of Monteverdi and Gesualdo, provided the inspiration for my own Madrigali. Italian love poems of that era have constituted a rich lyric source for many composers, and while reading them I became increasingly intrigued by the symbolic imagery of flames, burning and fire that recurred. I decided to compose an intensely dramatic a cappella cycle based on Renaissance poems employing this motif while blending stylistic musical features of the period within a contemporary compositional idiom. In doing so, I wanted the music to emanate (like ripples from a pebble thrown into a pond) from a single, primal sonority — one dramatic chord that would encapsule the intensity of the entire cycle and which would provide a musical motivic unity to complement the poetic. This sonority which I’ve termed the ‘Fire-Chord’, opens the piece and is found extensively throughout all six movements in myriad forms and manipulations. The Madrigali are designed in an arch form with significant sharing of materials between movements one and six, two and five. The cycle has its dramatic high point in movement four, ‘Io Piango’, where the music gradually builds from pianissimo to a fortissimo, seven part explosion of the ‘Fire-Chord’ before settling to a quiet return of the opening measures.”

Mr. Lauridsen is Distinguished Professor of Composition at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music. He received the 2007 National Medal of Arts “for his composition of radiant choral works combining musical beauty, power, and spiritual depth that have thrilled audiences worldwide.”

The Vocal Music of

Morten Lauridsen Ave Maria ....................................................................................... SATB Chorus a cappella Ave Dulcissima Maria.......................................................................TTBB Chorus a cappella BeȱStill,ȱMyȱSoul,ȱBeȱStillȱ(Housman).......................HighȱVoice,ȱClarinet,ȱCelloȱandȱPianoȱ Les Chansons des Roses (Rilke) ....................................................... SATB Chorus and Piano Chanson Éloignée (Rilke) ................................................................ SATB Chorus a cappella Cuatro Canciones (Lorca) ........................................ High Voice, Clarinet, Cello and Piano Dirait-on (Rilke) ............................................................................. SATB Chorus and Piano .............................................................. TTBB or SSAA Chorus and Piano ............................................................ High or Medium Voice and Piano .................................. Mixed Duet (High or Medium Voices) and Piano ................................................................................ High Voice and Guitar I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes ................................................................. SATB Chorus a cappella Lux Aeterna ............................................................ SATB Chorus and Chamber Orchestra (orchestral parts available on rental)

Madrigali: Six “Firesongs” on Italian Renaissance Poems ............ SATB Chorus a cappella Mid-Winter Songs on Poems by Robert Graves ...................... SATB Chorus and Orchestra (Piano/Vocal Score Available from Opus Music Publishers, Inc.)

Nocturnes (Rilke, Neruda, Agee) ................................................... SATB Chorus and Piano O Come, Let Us Sing Unto the Lord ... SATB Chorus and Organ, Brass Quintet or Piano O Magnum Mysterium .................................................................. SATB Chorus a cappella ....................................................................TTBB Chorus a cappella ................................................ Medium Voice and Piano or Organ O Nata Lux ..................................................................................... SATB Chorus a cappella SureȱOnȱThisȱShiningȱNightȱ(Agee).....................MixedȱDuetȱ(MediumȱVoices)ȱandȱPiano Ubi Caritas et Amor ......................................................................... SATB Chorus a cappella Where Have the Actors Gone ......................................................................... Voice and Piano ........................................................... SATB Chorus and Piano ................................................................ Jazz Choir a cappella A Winter Come (Moss) ................................................................ Medium Voice and Piano All - Morten Lauridsen Recordings “Lauridsen: Lux Aeterna,” Los Angeles Master Chorale, Sinfonia Orchestra and Morten Lauridsen (piano), Paul Salamunovich conducting, on the Grammy-nominated RCM CD 19705 “Lauridsen: Nocturnes,” Polyphony, Britten Sinfonia, Andrew Lumsden (organ) and Morten Lauridsen (piano), Stephen Layton conducting, on Hyperion CD 67580ȱ “Lauridsen: Lux Aeterna,” Polyphony, Britten Sinfonia, Stephen Layton conducting, on the Grammy-nominated Hyperion CD 67449 “Lauridsen: O Magnum Mysterium,” Chamber Choir of Europe, Jörg Halubek (organ) and Morten Lauridsen (piano), Nicol Matt conducting, on Hänssler Classic CD 98272 “Lauridsen: Northwest Journey,” Donald Brinegar Singers and the Viklarbo Chamber Ensemble with Ralph Grierson, Jane Thorngren, Sunny Wilkinson, Shelly Berg, James Drollinger, Anne Marie Ketchum and Morten Lauridsen on RCM 12001 “Lauridsen: The Complete Choral Cycles,” Choral Cross-Ties and Carol Rich (piano), Bruce Browne conducting, on Freshwater Classical CD 105-2

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