Located in the UK
Located in the USA
Located in Europe
- Dominick DiOrio
A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass (2010)
- G Schirmer Inc (World)
Programme Note
Cantata-concerto on poetry of Amy Lowell
Commissioned by Houston Chamber Choir and dedicated to Robert Simpson
Movements:
Listening
At Night
Hora Stellatrix
A Winter's Ride
Composer Note:
I first encountered the work of poet Amy Lowell in a song cycle by the composer Zachary Wadsworth. Immediately taken by the vivid images and inherently musical nature of the text— to say nothing of Zach’s poignant and evocative musical setting—, I immersed myself in the writings of this turn-of-the-20th-century poet. I was ecstatic to find that Lowell held Milton in high regard and wrote with a transcendentalist bent reminiscent of Whitman— two artists for whom I have a great affinity. This cantata-concerto is the culmination of a love affair with her word, at once both youthfully vivacious and elegantly burnished.
The music makes virtuosic use of the marimba, hence the use of the term cantata-concerto. While always in service to the spirit and emotion evoked by the text, it requires a percussionist of professional caliber. The choral parts and the soprano solo also demand singers of the highest level—able to produce a stark pianissimo and a flexible and powerful fortissimo—all with exceptional tonal clarity and expressive declamation of the poetry. The Houston Chamber Choir is ideally suited to these challenges, and the work has been written with their particular agility, intelligence, and interpretational zeal in mind. This work is a gift to them and to their artistic director, Robert Simpson, in thanks for the opportunity to sing regularly with such a world-class ensemble of musicians.
— Dominick DiOrio
A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass
ACDA National Conference - Movement 4 "A Winter Ride" with Houston Chamber Choir
Commissioned by Houston Chamber Choir and dedicated to Robert Simpson
Movements:
Listening
At Night
Hora Stellatrix
A Winter's Ride
Composer Note:
I first encountered the work of poet Amy Lowell in a song cycle by the composer Zachary Wadsworth. Immediately taken by the vivid images and inherently musical nature of the text— to say nothing of Zach’s poignant and evocative musical setting—, I immersed myself in the writings of this turn-of-the-20th-century poet. I was ecstatic to find that Lowell held Milton in high regard and wrote with a transcendentalist bent reminiscent of Whitman— two artists for whom I have a great affinity. This cantata-concerto is the culmination of a love affair with her word, at once both youthfully vivacious and elegantly burnished.
The music makes virtuosic use of the marimba, hence the use of the term cantata-concerto. While always in service to the spirit and emotion evoked by the text, it requires a percussionist of professional caliber. The choral parts and the soprano solo also demand singers of the highest level—able to produce a stark pianissimo and a flexible and powerful fortissimo—all with exceptional tonal clarity and expressive declamation of the poetry. The Houston Chamber Choir is ideally suited to these challenges, and the work has been written with their particular agility, intelligence, and interpretational zeal in mind. This work is a gift to them and to their artistic director, Robert Simpson, in thanks for the opportunity to sing regularly with such a world-class ensemble of musicians.
— Dominick DiOrio
A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass
ACDA National Conference - Movement 4 "A Winter Ride" with Houston Chamber Choir
Media
Reviews
Inspired by four poems of Amy Lowell, this work worked. The music temperamentally expressed in song the poet’s joy for existence and all its wonders, large and small. An extra benefit: Much of the time, save when sopranos were sent sky-high up the scale, Lowell’s words were discernible as well as meaningfully interpreted. DiOrio refers to this set of four pieces as a “cantata-concerto” because the singers are partnered by marimba, on this occasion brilliantly played by Sean Gill...Impressive concert. DiOrio is a find.
11th October 2012
"Hora Stellatrix" (Hour of Stars) is a movement is from DiOrio's extended cantata-concerto, A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass. Inspired by the words of imagist poet Amy Lowell, the work is ethereal and evocative. Using the marimba as a solo instrument, the composition conjures images of spring, love and nature. The marimba adds a beautiful tint to the ensemble's sound spectrum in somewhat free improvisational form. While being careful not to get in the way of the text, the scoring enhances Lowell's communicative power.
29th January 2011