VOICE WITH ENSEMBLE - Natural Selection (2000) (med voice + lg ens)
Duration - 15:00
flute (piccolo). oboe (cor anglais). clarinet (bass clarinet). bassoon(contrabassoon); horn. trumpet(flugelhorn). trombone; percussion; piano, harp; 2 violins.viola. violoncello. double bass
Commissioned by Faber Music for its Millennium Series.
“Composer Derek Bermel may not be a household name yet, but if there is any justice in the music world, he soon will be. His Natural Selection, a song cycle based on poetry of Wendy S. Walters and Naomi Shihab Nye, is a group of animal portraits that achieves a dramatic complexity that belies its commonplace subject. Baritone Timothy Jones was extraordinary.”
Natural Selection (2002) is a song cycle for baritone comprised of four settings by American poets Wendy S. Walters and Naomi Shihab Nye. It celebrates nature in various manifestations: insectoid, arachnid, mammalian, and human. The cycle was commissioned by Faber Music's Millennium Series and premiered at the Huddersfield Festival by Ensemble 10/10, conducted by Clark Rundell.
Tonight's performance is dedicated to the great British composer Nicholas Maw, who died last month; Nicholas nominated me for the Faber commission, and was a great inspiration to me.
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