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Track(s) taken from CDA67217

The World

composer
1997
author of text
Collected poems of Kathleen Raine

Patricia Rozario (soprano), RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet
Recording details: June 2000
Henry Wood Hall, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Andrew Keener
Engineered by Tony Faulkner
Release date: January 2001
Total duration: 10 minutes 5 seconds
 

Reviews

‘The Vanbrugh Quartet’s intense and committed performance is of the highest calibre. An indispensable and thoroughly recommendable disc’ (Gramophone)

‘The music generates an intense, mesmerising background stillness. I can’t imagine [it] performed better. The recording balances clarity and atmosphere to near-perfection’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘The Akhmatova Songs are among Tavener’s most impressive works of recent years. Performances are exemplary, as is the recording’ (International Record Review)

‘A disc that I can recommend without reservation’ (Fanfare, USA)

‘A sensational performance’ (Music Week)

‘In these pieces for singer and string quartet [Patricia Rozario] is at her very best, soaring to strenuous heights in the Akhmatova Songs and spinning a peculiar magic in The World’ (Amazon.co.uk)

‘A first class release, which Tavener enthusiasts should not be without’ (MusicWeb International)

‘If you doubt that Tavener is a composer of substance, this disc should change your mind’ (Opera News)

‘Rozario sings divinely and the excellent Vanbrugh Quartet play with magical effect’ (The Northern Echo)
The World is a setting of verses by Kathleen Raine, the poet and distinguished scholar of Blake and Yeats. Composed in 1997, the work was first performed by Patricia Rozario and the Vanbrugh Quartet on 2 July 1999, as part of the West Cork Chamber Music Festival. A version for soprano and string orchestra was first heard in Belfast in August 1999. According to the composer’s performance note The World ‘should be performed at maximum intensity throughout. White hot, white cold – intensely loud, intensely soft – almost unbearable – that which is nowhere and everywhere – not human but divine – theanthropic’. Tavener recalls how the mantra-like quality of the poem immediately suggested to him a musical setting, while a Byzantine palindrome which he saw inscribed on a fountain in Istanbul strongly influenced the melodic content. The work was dedicated to Kathleen Raine on the occasion of her ninetieth birthday.

from notes by Phillip Borg-Wheeler © 2001

Conçu sur des vers de Kathleen Rain, poétesse et spécialiste renommée de Blake et Yeats, The World vit le jour en 1997. Patricia Rozario et le Quatuor Vanbrugh en donnèrent la première audition le 2 juillet 1999, lors du Festival de musique de chambre de West Cork, en Irlande. Une version pour soprano et orchestre de cordes fut exécutée en août 1999 à Belfast, en Irlande du Nord. Selon le programme du compositeur The World « doit constamment être exécuté avec le plus haut degré d’intensité possible. Aussi brûlant que du métal chauffé à blanc, aussi froid que la glace – intensément fort, intensément piano – presque insupportablement – ce qui est partout et nulle part – ni humain ni divin – théantropique. » Tavener rappelle combien ce poème aux qualités proches du mantra éveilla immédiatement en lui une pensée musicale tandis qu’un palindrome byzantin qu’il avait vu inscrit sur une fontaine de Constantinople influença fortement le matériau mélodique. L’œuvre fut dédiée à Kathleen Raine à l’occasion de ses quatre-vingt-dix ans.

extrait des notes rédigées par Phillip Borg-Wheeler © 2001
Français: Isabelle Battioni

The World ist eine Vertonung von Versen von Kathleen Raine, der Dichterin und namhaften Blake- und Yeats-Expertin. Das 1997 komponierte Werk wurde am 2. Juli 1999 von Patricia Rozario und dem Vanbrugh-Quartett beim West Cork Chamber Music Festival uraufgeführt. Eine Bearbeitung für Sopran und Streichorchester war zum ersten Mal im August 1999 in Belfast zu hören. Dem Aufsatz des Komponisten im Programmheft zufolge soll The World ‘durchweg mit maximaler Eindringlichkeit aufgeführt werden. Weißglühend, weißkalt – intensiv laut, intensiv leise – nahezu unerträglich – das, was nirgendwo ist und überall – nicht menschlich, sondern göttlich – theanthropisch’. Tavener erinnert sich, daß der Mantracharakter des Gedichts ihn augenblicklich auf die Idee kommen ließ, es musikalisch umzusetzen, während ein byzantinisches Palindrom, eine Inschrift an einem Brunnen aus dem alten Konstantinopel, stark den melodischen Gehalt beeinflußte. Das Werk ist Kathleen Raine zum neunzigsten Geburtstag gewidmet.

aus dem Begleittext von Phillip Borg-Wheeler © 2001
Deutsch: Anne Steeb/Bernd Müller

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