Program Note:
Will transformation–
Oh be crazed for the flame
in which a thing that bursts with becoming
consumes itself;
that spirit of re-creation, master of earthly form,
loves most in our turning the single pivoting point of change.
Rainer Maria Rilke
from Sonnets to Orpheus
Series 2, # 12
translation by Evan Chambers
The title Crazed for the Flame comes from Rilke’s Sonnets to Orpheus. The piece was inspired by that image of intense spiritual longing, of wild yearning for union with the absolute. It is a state exemplified in the music and literature of Sufism, a mystical branch of Islam, as well, and the piece was also inspired my experiences listening to one kind of Sufi music: the Qawwali music of the great Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and his ensemble. I’ve been listening to this group for years, and had one of the most profound musical experiences of my life hearing them in concert--to put it plainly, I’ve been so affected by the power, sincerity, and radiant depth of feeling in Qawwali music for so long that it had to come out in my own writing sooner or later. I wanted to write a a grateful homage that drew on the form of Qawwali without directly imitating the style.
In this piece, as in Qawwali, the music consists of tight melodic cells that are repeated to create a dynamic of intensification; highly charged and often ecstatic group singing alternates with long wailing solo lines. The piece is also influenced by the melodic shapes of southern Albanian Kaba, a semi-improvised instrumental music sometimes referred to as “music with tears.”
The Orchestra version of the piece was commission for the University Philharmonia Orchestra at the University of Michigan by Andrew George. The chamber version was commissioned by the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings, by H. Robert Reynolds, and premiered under the baton of Michael Haithcock.
Will transformation–
Oh be crazed for the flame
in which a thing that bursts with becoming
consumes itself;
that spirit of re-creation, master of earthly form,
loves most in our turning the single pivoting point of change.
Rainer Maria Rilke
from Sonnets to Orpheus
Series 2, # 12
translation by Evan Chambers
The title Crazed for the Flame comes from Rilke’s Sonnets to Orpheus. The piece was inspired by that image of intense spiritual longing, of wild yearning for union with the absolute. It is a state exemplified in the music and literature of Sufism, a mystical branch of Islam, as well, and the piece was also inspired my experiences listening to one kind of Sufi music: the Qawwali music of the great Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and his ensemble. I’ve been listening to this group for years, and had one of the most profound musical experiences of my life hearing them in concert--to put it plainly, I’ve been so affected by the power, sincerity, and radiant depth of feeling in Qawwali music for so long that it had to come out in my own writing sooner or later. I wanted to write a a grateful homage that drew on the form of Qawwali without directly imitating the style.
In this piece, as in Qawwali, the music consists of tight melodic cells that are repeated to create a dynamic of intensification; highly charged and often ecstatic group singing alternates with long wailing solo lines. The piece is also influenced by the melodic shapes of southern Albanian Kaba, a semi-improvised instrumental music sometimes referred to as “music with tears.”
The Orchestra version of the piece was commission for the University Philharmonia Orchestra at the University of Michigan by Andrew George. The chamber version was commissioned by the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings, by H. Robert Reynolds, and premiered under the baton of Michael Haithcock.