After a slow choral introduction, the Elegy unfolds with a dark melody in the bass which suggests a sacred quality similar to Gregorian chant. In triple meter, the Totentanz is spun out of a perky repeated-note motive which pervades the piece. A motor rhythm sustains the energy until its majestic ending. The work is recorded on the Acoma CD ANGELICA GXD5735.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Totentanz a fascinating score with a motoric rhythm that drives the work forward." -- David Denton, Fanfare
About the Author
Like Charles Ives and Aaron Copland, PETER WARE (May 4, 1951) has fashioned a melodic and harmonic vocabulary both distinctive and attractive. Frequently drawing titles from North American landscapes, Ware seeks to climb inside his sources creating an organic synthesis into the musical texture. With driving rhythm and intense drama, his music evolves through long-breathed melodies, spun out in a free-flowing contrapuntal style. Ware's musical structures develop naturally from motivic cells that seem to grow and mutate in an evolutionary sense. The music emerges from a primitive sense and communicates directly with the listener on a purely spiritual level. For this reason, its meaning can be interpreted and understood emotionally, but the message is encoded outside the realm of language.
Wares early musical training was in the church choir and under the piano tutelage of Florence Robertson in Beethoven's lineage. He studied composition at Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Cincinnati and Yale University. His principal teachers include Krzysztof Penderecki, Scott Huston, Roman Haubenstock-Ramati and Toru Takemitsu.
While many composers claim inspiration from the works and spirit of Beethoven, Ware's orchestra music is large in gesture with the heroic always surfacing and a sense of undeniable majesty. It communicates the universal awe, a speechlessness that can only be captured in the language of tone. In the end, the process is clearly recognizable as an extremely personal testimonial: the individual artist struggling for context in the world, and through the workings out of their art, championing and empowering themselves with spirit transcending.
Ware attracts numerous commissions with grants from the Canada Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the Ohio Arts Council. He has attracted commissions and performances from ensembles such as the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Saskatoon Symphony-Composer-of-the-Season, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Regina Symphony, Orchestra London Canada, Virginia Symphony, Hamilton Philharmonic, Mississauga Symphony Orchestra and the Canadian Chamber Ensemble/Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Richmond Symphony, Queen's Chamber Orchestra, National Chamber Orchestra, and Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. He has received composition prizes from the Minnesota Composers Forum, St. Louis New Music Circle, University of Cincinnati, Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honor Society, Virginia Commonwealth University and Yale University. His music is available on the following CDs: The Many Moods of the Guitar (GXD 5732) Impossible Dream (GXD 5733), Forest Scenes (GXD 5734), Americas (GXD 5736), and Angelica (5735).
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Customer Reviews
|
There are no customer reviews yet.
|
|||
|
Video reviews
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
