…I was deeply involved with Peter Maxwell Davies‘ fabulous (and hard) piece Eight Songs for a Mad King. Here’s an excerpt from the performance; enjoy! To be frank, I still haven’t watched through the entire video just because I creep myself out.
Eight Songs for a Mad King: A DMA Lecture-Recital
Morgann Davis, flute
Ching-Hsie Hsu, clarinet
Mary Perkinson, violin
Emily Gruselle, cello
Ian Disjardin, percussion
Jeff Gibbens, piano
Ching-chun Lai, conductor
Jerry Hui, voice
Now you can listen to the premiere performance of Salmo 150, sung by the Hong Kong Young People’s Chorus two weekends ago. Thank you singers, and thank you conductor Virginia Cheng for working with them! If you like the chorus, do check out their YouTube channel.
If you are in Hong Kong this weekend and if you are in the mood for choral music, please go to the concert of Hong Kong Young People’s Chorus! I’m honored that among many master pieces such as Duruflé’s Requiem, my setting of Salmo 150 (Psalm 150 in Spanish) will be premiered. While the text is taken from the “Reina-Valera Antigua” translation from the 16th century, I draw much influence from the Spanish Renaissance masters as well. The result is a piece that’s highly contrapuntal, imitative, and full of text painting.
HKYPC presents Duruflé’s Requiem
8/14 (Saturday) 6pm
Li Hall, St. John Cathedral, Central, HK
If you do make it to the concert, please let me know what you think!
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Do you have a favorite language to sing in, or compose for?
I recently received a commission from a good friend to write a short sacred piece. Now that we have finally settled on Psalm 150–who doesn’t love the exciting praises with every instrument?–I set off right away to study the text in ye olde trusty King James Version. The more I read it though, the less I feel connected with it artistically.
Here it is in KJV:
1Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.
2Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.
3Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.
4Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
5Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.
6Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.
Not bad, right? (more…)
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