Lament
for chorus and orchestra

Lament is written for chorus and orchestra and set in Greek to an ancient text used in the funeral rite found in the Greek Orthodox Church. Four years ago I came upon an article that reprinted a chant written by the medieval composer Koukouzeles in 1431, just before Bosnia fell to the Turks in 1463. The spirit of the Greek text and the music of Koukouzeles pervades this work. The addition of the 'cello solo toward the end is a reference to Vedran Smailovic, a 'cellist who in the 1992 siege of Sarajevo would play Albinoni's Adagio at 4 pm every afternoon outside a bakery. Although several phrases of the Albinoni can be heard, the work finishes with the 'cellist playing the end of the chant.

The text speaks of souls who finally return to the beauty from which they came, and understands in a moment what it is like to be dead. The writer wonders why there are those who among the living give into self-destruction, and looks, on behalf of the departed, to a final transformation (metastasis) to that place of peace (anapafsin).

I am grateful to Marvin Bell, whose poem Requiem for Bosnia gave inspiration to this composition. My piece is dedicated to the memory of my teacher and mentor, William Albright, who passed away unexpectedly the day it was finished, September 17, 1998.

Performances