Ecstatic Meditations (1998)
INSTRUMENTATION: Soprano, Tenor; SSAATTBB a cappella choir
DURATION: 17 Minutes
PREMIERE: December 2000
Aaron Jay Kernis, awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1998, is one of the most sought after composers today. He has received commissions from many of the major orchestras in the United States, including the New York Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony. Ecstatic Meditations was composed in 1999 for Philip Brunelle and the Plymouth Music Series Ensemble Singers and Choir. Like all of Kernis’ music, it “bears the unmistakable stamp of a wildly fertile musical imagination…with rich poetic imagery.” The text is by Mechthild of Magdeburg, translated by Jane Hirshfield.
In four movements, for sale separately:
1. Effortlessly love flows
2. How the soul speaks to God
3. I Cannot Dance O Lord
4. How God Answers the Soul
Work themes: Spirit