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Songs of Love and Remembrance for Soprano, Harp and Piano on Poetry of Rabindranath Tagore

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Songs of Love and Remembrance was commissioned by Peter Morris and Jack Frey and is dedicated to them. Scored for soprano, piano and harp with a duration of sixteen minutes, the work is divided into five movements, four songs separated by and instrumental interlude. The texts I chose are from the very beautiful and timeless poetry of the great Bengali poet Rabindranth Tagore.
 
Inspired by the forty-three relationship of my dear friends I organized this work like a short story, with each song representing a chapter of their life together.  Lyrical and expressive in mood the first movement is a song of commitment of confirmation. Playful and sexy in nature the second song tells of the electric physical connection they had. I choose the instrumental interlude to represent the many fruitful years they enjoyed together. The interlude is fast, joyful and rhythmically intricate. Separated by the death of one of the partners, the fourth movement is a tender love song from “the great beyond,” “I am still here my love to comfort and support you, do not worry.” The last song is a summation of the whole work. Not unlike the first movement, Unending Love tells of deep connection and commitment. In this song the lovers are rejoined and the affirmation of their love becomes a spiritual bond, which last thought out all eternity.
 
After listening to recordings of Tagore singing his own songs, I was inspired to use as my source material Indian Ragas from the north and south of India. I choose not to use them as in traditional Indian music, but more as a point of reference and inspiration, which I then blended with my own musical style.
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