Credits:
Helsinki Chamber Choir
Description:
This SACD hybrid recording of Alex Freeman's "Arched Sky: A Requiem" for mixed chorus, composed as music to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of the Finnish Civil War in 1918. The Helsinki Chamber Choir, under the artistic direction of Nils Schweckendiek, has regularly produced albums of ambitious programs. Following Reports - Choral Works by Haapanen (BIS 2452) and Rautavaara's Vigilia (BIS SA 2422), the new release features a cappella mixed choral works by Finnish composer Alex Freeman. Under the Arching Heavens: A Requiem was commissioned by vekendi and the Helsinki Chamber Choir to commemorate the centenary of the end of the Finnish Civil War in 1918.In addition to the liturgical texts of "Requiem," Freeman says that he took poems by Alexis Kivi, Edith Sdergrund, and Viljo Kayava from Finland, Siegfried Sassoon from England, and Whitman from the United States, and used them to visualize the horrors of the ongoing civil wars in Syria and Yemen. The artist says that he used the poems of Viljo Cayava, British poet Siegfried Sassoon, and American poet Whitman as texts. A Wilderness of Sea" was taken from the works of Shakespeare, who "spoke of the 'water and transience' common to all human existence.Full fathom five thy father lies" and "Where should this music be? (Where should this music be?", Sonnet No. 64 "When I have seen by Time's fallen hand defaced", and "I am like a drop of water to this world" from A Comedy of Errors. I to the world am like a drop of water," premiered in 2016 by the Helsinki Chamber Choir conducted by vekendi at Temppeliaulikio Church in Helsinki. Alex Freeman Alex Freeman (1972-) grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. He studied at the Eastman School of Music and then at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki for his doctoral dissertation on "The First Movement of Sibelius' Fourth Symphony; Sketch Study and Stylistic Analysis" at the Juilliard School. He later became a naturalized citizen of Finland.He lives in Finland with his family and works as a composer. King International
Tracklisting:
1.Under the Arching Heavens: A Requiem for mixed chorus~I. Sydameni laulu
2.Under the Arching Heavens: A Requiem for mixed chorus~II. Requiem aeternam
3.Under the Arching Heavens: A Requiem for mixed chorus~III. Sequence: Dies irae
4.Under the Arching Heavens: A Requiem for mixed chorus~III. Sequence: Thrushes
5.Under the Arching Heavens: A Requiem for mixed chorus~III. Sequence: Sequence
6.Under the Arching Heavens: A Requiem for mixed chorus~III. Sequence: Fientliga stjarnor
7.Under the Arching Heavens: A Requiem for mixed chorus~III. Sequence
8.Under the Arching Heavens: A Requiem for mixed chorus~IV. Sanctus
9.Under the Arching Heavens: A Requiem for mixed chorus~V. Mika lienee se lintu ollut?
10.Under the Arching Heavens: A Requiem for mixed chorus~VI. Agnus Dei
11.Under the Arching Heavens: A Requiem for mixed chorus~VII. O Years and Graves!
12.A Wilderness of Sea for mixed chorus
