The Choral Arts Society of Washington presents the premiere of “Seven Songs for Planet Earth” by Finnish composer Olli Kortekangas, a co-commission with the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra of Finland. The program opens with works by Sibelius, Nielsen, Alfven and Grieg representative of the moving, sensitive music of Scandinavia and one piece by Arvo Part from Estonia, directly across the Baltic Sea. Since founding the CAS in 1965, Music Director Norman Scribner has led the group to major honors, including a 1996 Grammy Award for Best Classical Album and numerous Wammies for Best Choral Group. During a musical evening at the Finnish Embassy, he was so struck by Kortekangas’ compositions that he wanted him to create a piece for the CAS.
The composer focuses on man’s relationship with nature in seven parts performed by the chorus, orchestra, guest soloists and the Children’s Chorus of Washington. He chose texts from four poems by American farmer, academic and activist Wendell Berry, St. Francis of Assisi and members of the Children’s Chorus. The fourth movement, comprised of nonsense syllables, quasi-yodeling vocal calls or echoes, mimics yoik, the ancient singing style of the Sami people living in the northern part of Scandinavia.
| Onstage |
| ‘Seven Songs for Planet Earth’ by Olli Kortekangas |
| Where: Kennedy Center Concert Hall |
| When: 5 p.m. Sunday |
| Info: $15 to $65; 202-467-4600, 800-444-1324; kennedy-center.org |
“A few years ago, while searching for a text for a piece commissioned by the Syracuse Vocal Ensemble, I came across some of Berry’s poems,” Kortekangas said. “Didn’t know his work, had never heard of him, so it was ‘love at first sight.’ I think he’s a great poet, a great thinker and somebody who lives the way he preaches, which is rare.
“The poem you set to music has to say something to you and have a certain musical quality that matches your way of writing. I tried to create an intellectual and emotional continuum. I also wanted to include a more political text, and I particularly like Berry’s intertwining of religious and/or spiritual pondering, political statements and simple questions of everyday life. Thus his wonderfully sarcastic ‘We Who Prayed and Wept’ is also a very serious poem about the absurdity of consumerism and the freedom we think we have.”
