Product Description
Very often inspiration only comes when a musician commissions a work, very often proposing a theme, mood or even length. In this case it was a commission for a piece (or pieces) inspired not so much by Gregorian chant, but by Ottorino respighi's (1879-1936) response to it, writing his piano Tre Preludi sopra melodie gregoriane in 1919, and which, in turn, inspired three of his own Vetrate di chiesa in 1926. To me at least, there is little evidence of Gregorianess to these works, apart from his use of the modes, which he tends to call, mistakenly, by Greek names as if the Church modes were the same. Instead, i chose to concentrate not only on the modes, but tried to respect the metre and note duration. The chants will be immediately recognisable to those familiar with sacred music.
Gregorian chant is recitative and its function is to highlight the text and this will be immediately clear to the listener. My aim was to create a joyful music, music not so much from darkness, but that nonetheless goes towards the light: the music reaches the high register of the piano, and ends quietly in an ascending arpeggio, maybe inspired by the last bars of Penderecki's Eighth Symphony, Lieder der Vergänglichkeit, where angels seem to ascend to Heaven. Here it is Mary's assumption.
This product was created by a member of ArrangeMe, Hal Leonard's global self-publishing community of independent composers, arrangers, and songwriters. ArrangeMe allows for the publication of unique arrangements of both popular titles and original compositions from a wide variety of voices and backgrounds.