Some Things I Love
James Aikman
About this work:
JAMES AIKMAN: Some Things I Love
A Song Cycle for Male and Female Soloists, Chorus and String Orchestra on Poems by The 39th President of the United States and Nobel Peace Prize Recipient,
JIMMY CARTER: Always A Reckoning and Other Poems.
Times Books, New York ISBN 0-8129-2434-7
Copyright 1995 Random House.
Used by permission of Mr. Carter, Random House, and Janklow & Nesbit Associates.
First Performance by The Lamont Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Lawrence Golan, Music Director and Conductor. Catherine Sailer, Choral Director
Newman Center for the Performing Arts, University of Denver, Denver, Colorado May 28th, 2009
Some Things I Love is music inspired by seven poems by Jimmy Carter. The performing forces are neo-Handelian, chosen precisely for the unity and variety that voices and strings offer. President Carter’s poems provide further unique views this remarkable man and his rich life experience have offered us. From a purely lovely tribute to his wife, Rosalynn, to the knowledge acquired long ago that everything in life must be in balance – in art, in politics, in friendship, in considering what has been created and why - President Carter’s work glows with intense and passionate caring. His poems speak to me, as has his lifetime of service to his fellow human beings throughout the world. This inspires, brings extraordinary hope, and sets the bar higher for all of us who contemplate the stewardship and responsibilities the gift of life presents. The fact that he is the first president to write a book of poetry shows firmly the importance he places on the arts and its place in our American cultural heritage. - James Aikman, 2007
Version: Lyric Mezzo, Bass/Baritone, Chorus and String Orchestra
Year composed: 2007
Duration: 00:23:00
Ensemble type: Chorus, with or without Solo Voices:Chorus with Orchestra
Instrumentation:
Instrumentation notes: Lyric Mezzo Soprano, Bass/Baritone, Chorus, String Orchestra