Sailors & Dreamers
Chester Biscardi
About this work:
A3 – D#5
In 2007 notes in a bottle are figuratively exchanged between Bogliasco and Majorca where the composer and the lyricist are living. Seven bells guide us: "Head Out". A reminder: "You've Been on My Mind". A request: "Play Me a Song", which is later recalled in "Slow Wings". A story in a bar from 1967: "Seven O'Clock at the Cedar: Ode to Klein/de Kooning", where fame is ordinary and women run after fragments. In "Do You Remember?" the dream flickers under a still moon. "I Dance the Tango" is a toast to life. Stars and galaxies fall against a background of shifting horizons in "Falling Fast". Ships without anchor move with the wind in "It's Time to Feel Alright Now". And, finally, we hold close to "The Edge" where stories, people, and times start to find their place. Sailors & Dreamers is a tribute to the tides and currents that carry us toward the new and the unexpected.
Sailors & Dreamers was commissioned by The Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library of Congress, dedicated to the memory of Serge and Natalie Koussevitzky, and written for Sequitur. The cycle may be performed with either solo piano or with chamber ensemble.
The work is divided into the following sections:
Head Out; You've Been on My Mind
Play Me a Song
Seven O'Clock at the Cedar (Ode to Kline/de Kooning)
Do You Remember?
I Dance the Tango
Falling Fast; Slow Wings
It's Time to Feel Alright Now; The Edge
Version: voice and piano, or voice and chamber ensemble (Fl. (Picc.), Cl (B. Cl.), Perc. [Chimes (C4 - G5), Mar. (C3 - C7), Glock., Sus. Cyms. (Sm., Med. & Lg.), Vib.], Voice, Pn, Vln I, Vln II, Vla, Vc, Cb
Year composed: 2010
Duration: 00:27:00
Ensemble type: Voice, Solo or With Chamber or Jazz Ensemble:Voice with Large Chamber/Jazz Ensemble (10 +)
Instrumentation: