Wild Heights Sown With Sorrow
The title of this piece comes from poetry written by the great 19th century Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko. These seven short pieces reflect the ancient and poetic spirit of the people who have lived, sung, and prayed in Ukraine.
The title of this piece comes from poetry written by the great 19th century Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko. These seven short pieces reflect the ancient and poetic spirit of the people who have lived, sung, and prayed in Ukraine.
The title of this piece comes from poetry written by the great 19th century Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko. These seven short pieces reflect the ancient and poetic spirit of the people who have lived, sung, and prayed in Ukraine.
In 1996, I collaborated with Dr. Taras Filenko to compose a piece in memoriam for the 10th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster marking the start of the long and fruitful friendship.
I have known Taras for 30 years, since we were grad students together at Pitt. That seems like a lifetime ago now. When he played for me the pieces by Kozytsky and asked if I would write a set to accompany, I knew that it was these years of friendship that I would be drawing upon.
The great dramas of politics and war lend themselves to epic work. Great symphonies like Shostakovich 5. Poems like the one Taras Shevchenko wrote and that gives the title to this set of preludes. Paintings like Picassos Guernica. Music like the Threnody for Victims of Hiroshima written by the Polish composer Penderecki. You probably can think of many more, pieces of music have marked enduring responses to loss and have helped to contain our emotional process.
I know that I do not know first hand the disruption and pain currently endured by the people of Ukraine. But I do know the heart of my friend. The music I’ve written is spiritual, it is poetic, emotional, prayerful. It is sorrowful and angry. You may hear fragments and references to those great ennobling works of art...but in all cases it is scaled to the intimate. Listen to Taras playing as if you were overhearing an ancient conversation on the terrible outcomes of war.