'Mosaic' is a horn concerto in five movements, composed in 2010.  This is a concert recording of the performance with the Albanian Radio-Television Orchestra in Tirana, Albania, March 21, 2013-- with Bujar Llapaj, guest conductor, and Oliver de Clercq, guest horn soloist.

"Mosaic was inspired by the idea of creating a dreamscape, with the solo horn as the central character: the one experiencing the dream. I was interested in exploring the idea of dreaming as a means of processing ideas and information, but at the same time, being aware that dreaming is not a process over which we have the same degree of control as we do over our conscious thoughts. Just as real-life information and experiences are filtered and transformed through the dreaming process, several motivic ideas recur and are transformed throughout the various movements. The piece is structured in five movements (attacca), beginning with the lower strings emulating the slow breathing of one falling asleep. The second movement is bright, with melodic reference to a pelog gamelan scale. The third movement begins with a duet between solo horn and solo cello, expanding outwards from the first three notes of Brahms’ famous Lullaby, and evolving into something much more intense at the climax of the piece. The fourth movement is a cadenza for the solo horn, leading into the fifth movement, which contains reference to an out-of-body experience." (programme notes: Elizabeth Knudson)

Orchestra score and parts are available for rental from the Canadian Music Centre:

https://cmccanada.org/shop/62956/

Arrangement for horn and piano is available through the International Horn Society:

http://www.hornsociety.org/marketplace/online-library#!/~/product/category=0&id=6957407

Mosaic (for solo horn and orchestra)

'Tides' was conceived after visiting Albania and Macedonia on tour, as a member of the West Coast Symphony Orchestra, in summer 2012. The rugged beauty and colourful spirit of the Balkans fascinated me. This piece grew out of contemplating the continuity of time, and also the idea of an ancient land, where tides (both literal and metaphorical) have been changing and shaping its unique character for centuries. Precise, dancing rhythms inspired by Balkan folk music permeate the piece, contrasted with a fluid sense of motion and freedom. 

Premiered by Orkestra Simfonike e RTSH (Albanian Radio-Television Orchestra), Bujar Llapaj, guest conductor, at the Academy of Arts, Tirana, Albania, 21 March, 2013.

Sheet music for this piece is available through the Canadian Music Centre:

https://cmccanada.org/shop/67337/

Tides (for full orchestra)

"After the Storm", for string octet and clarinet, was inspired by a colourful poem of the same name, by Boris Pasternak. The piece was commissioned as part of the HER Projected online festival, presented by all-female ensemble, Allegra Chamber Orchestra. The work received its premiere online on June 26th, 2021, (recorded earlier at the Orpheum Annex, Vancouver), featuring Michelle Goddard- clarinet, with members of Allegra Chamber Orchestra, directed by Janna Sailor.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJOZo2JExc8&t=858s&ab_channel=AllegraChamberOrchestra
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Sheet music for this piece is available through the Canadian Music Centre:

https://cmccanada.org/shop/77863/

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“The air is full of after-thunder freshness,
And everything rejoices and revives.
With the whole outburst of its purple clusters
The lilac drinks the air of paradise.

The gutters overflow; the change of weather
Makes all you see appear alive and new.
Meanwhile the shades of sky are growing lighter,
Beyond the blackest cloud the height is blue.
An artist’s hand, with mastery still greater
Wipes dirt and dust off objects in his path.
Reality and life, the past and present,
Emerge transformed out of his colour-bath.

The memory of over half a lifetime
Like swiftly passing thunder dies away.
The century is no more under wardship:
High time to let the future have its say.
It is not revolutions and upheavals
That clear the road to new and better days,
But revelations, lavishness and torments
Of someone’s soul, inspired and ablaze.”
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Boris Pasternak (1890-1960)

After the Storm

This is an arrangement of the traditional Canadian Christmas carol, often known as 'The Huron Carol' or 'Twas in the Moon of Wintertime', composed in 1642 by Jean de Brébeuf, a Jesuit missionary at Sainte-Marie among the Hurons.  

I created this arrangement for two female voices-- specifically for me and my sister to perform at a Christmas service.  One voice ("The Priest") carries the simple, haunting melody, while the second voice creates a counterpoint ("The Fiddle").  This carol has always been one of my favourites, evoking both the bleakness and simple beauty of the winter season.

Sheet music for this piece is available through Syrinx Press: 

http://www.elizabethknudson.ca/syrinx-press/

Brébeuf Carol ('Twas in the Moon of Wintertime)

'Equinox' refers to the time of year when the sun crosses the celestial equator; when days and nights are of equal length.  For this work, I was thinking in particular of the autumnal equinox, when nature shifts from a lush green palette and long stretches of sunny days, to a more compressed, colourful existence with a briskness in the air, heralding the fall season.

This piece was composed for a Macedonian ensemble, Music Progressive Quartet, whom I had the pleasure to meet and tour with, while visiting the Balkans in summer of 2012.  There are many references to Balkan rhythms, melody, and ornamentation in this music, though not in any traditional context.  ‘Equinox’ is a convergence of elements that creates the unique sense of vitality and shifting of balance inherent in the changing seasons.

'Equinox' received its premiere on March 30, 2014, at Pyatt Hall, Vancouver, BC, Canada, at the closing night of the Sonic Boom Festival.

Sheet music for this piece is available through the Canadian Music Centre (for chamber quartet- oboe, violin, viola & cello, as well as an arrangement for full orchestra):

https://cmccanada.org/shop/68206/
https://cmccanada.org/shop/73047/

Equinox

This piece was conceived as a miniature chamber work for cello and piano, and the title, "Merely a Mockery of Spring", was inspired by a line of poetry in a cycle of poems about winter by American poet, Robert Pack.  The work was performed and recorded with support of the Canadian Music Centre's BC Region in summer 2023, with Jennifer Moersch- cello, and Tina Chang- piano.

Sheet music for this piece is available through the Canadian Music Centre:

https://cmccanada.org/shop/80553/

Winter Suite: Merely A Mockery Of Spring (for cello & piano)

* This is a midi file-- this piece was completed in 2022, and has not yet received a premiere performance.*

"Hymn", a work for solo cello and orchestra in three movements, takes its inspiration from a variety of sources. The first movement, "The Sun", was inspired by a poem of the same name, by Czeslaw Milosz (1911-2004). The poem opens with:

“All colours come from the sun. And it does not have Any particular colour, for it contains them all...”

This ties into the idea of exploring the classical Hindustani Raag Des. The piece begins from a fixed central point (much like the idea of an alap introduction in classical Indian music)—one unison pitch, here carried by the string section— gradually melting into various other orchestral colours—then, radiating outward from its unison beginnings, to explore a full range of the orchestral palette.

The second movement, "Hymn", was inspired by another poem by Czeslaw Milosz:

“There is no one between you and me.
Neither a plant drawing sap from the depths of earth
Nor an animal, nor a man, nor wind walking between the clouds.
The most beautiful bodies are like transparent glass.
The most powerful flames like water washing the tired feet of travelers. The greenest trees like lead blooming in the thick of the night.
Love is sand swallowed by parched lips.”

This movement takes its inspiration from a melodic fragment of a hymn, "Oh, Love, How Deep", attributed to 14th century monk, Thomas à Kempis. The music grows from these pure, austere beginnings into something warm and passionate.

This leads into the third movement, "Light", inspired by a poem of the same name— written by 14th century Persian poet, Shamsedin-Mohamed Hafez Shirazi. This movement explores some playful rhythmic patterns, and cascading scales, contrasted against steady supporting long tones.

“I wish I could show you, when you are lonely or in darkness The astonishing light of your own being!
...One regret, dear world, that I am determined not to have Is that I did not kiss you enough.
Look what happens with a love like that-- It lights the whole sky.”

Hymn - Cello Concerto (midi file)

This piece is named after the Slavonic sun deity. According to legend, Yarilo returns from the otherworld each year after Shrovetide to usher in springtime and provide a bountiful harvest. He is celebrated in the springtime through the midsummer, but as his life is connected to the agricultural cycle, he is “killed” at the end of summer, along with the harvest of the crops. This piece takes its source material from four traditional Russian folksongs. Beginning with darkness/winter, the piece moves progressively through the yearly agricultural cycle.

Premiered by Ariel Barnes at “Further East, Further West: Global Pilgrimage” concert of works for solo cello, Heritage Hall, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, 29 June, 2007.

Sheet music for this piece is available through the Canadian Music Centre:

https://cmccanada.org/shop/60300/

Yarilo

I. Stones and Roses
II. Beautiful Ruins
III. Light on Water
IV. Paths to the Sea
 -------
'Anatomy of a Spanish Garden' was inspired by an exploration of landscape architecture and design, with particular reference to several gardens in Spain. It occurred to me that there are many common elements between designing a garden, and creating a piece of music: structure and shape, careful selection of materials suited to the “climate”, a variety of surfaces (textures), interesting paths and vistas/resting points, colour and contrast.

The first movement, “Stones and Roses”, was inspired by San Segundo in Ávila, with its harsh climate, stone wall, and beautiful octagonal pool. The crisp, symmetrical shape of an octatonic scale first came to mind, which then led into the exploration of the Arabic ‘maqam’—still with the architectural clarity of axial pitches, but also the colour and warmth of tones falling outside the 12-tone equal tempered scale. The second movement, “Beautiful Ruins” references El Monasterio, a monastery in Castile, constructed in 1480. This movement grows organically out of a sparse reference (four notes) from Thomas Tallis’ Third Mode Melody. The third movement, “Light on Water”, had several garden-references, including Palacio de Oca, in Pontevedra, but at its heart is the idea of a lively, shimmering, transparent surface, and a deeper layer of colour. The fourth movement, “Paths to the Sea” is an imagining of Santa Clotilde at Costa Brava– lively, verdant, overlooking the sea.

'Anatomy of a Spanish Garden' received its premiere on March 28, 2015, at Pyatt Hall, Vancouver, BC, Canada, at the Sonic Boom Festival.

Sheet music for this piece is available through the Canadian Music Centre:

https://cmccanada.org/shop/69278/

Anatomy of a Spanish Garden

"Black is the Colour" was inspired by the Appalachian folk melody, "Black is the Colour of My True Love's Hair", and draws on this theme as the basis of a series of variations.  It also draws inspiration from the photography of Barcelona-born Canadian artist Tana (Tatiana Rivero Sanz), and was composed to accompany three contemporary dancers.  

The piece received its premiere (with the composer as cellist), on April 18, 2015 at the Blank Tank Gallery in Gastown, Vancouver, along with dancers Linda Arkelian, Jessie Au, and Joylyn Secunda, to celebrate the opening of a solo visual art exhibition by Tana.

Sheet music for this piece is available through the Canadian Music Centre:

https://cmccanada.org/shop/69718/

Black is the Colour

"Theme for Pascale Boinot" was composed for a short film, directed by Cat Mills, which was screened at Empire Granville 7 Cinemas, Vancouver, Canada, on April 28-29th, 2006. The piano part was performed by Heather Harty. The solo piano was meant to evoke something sensual and human-- mirroring the dynamics between two lovers/characters in the film. I tried to keep the musical language simple yet elegant-- much in the style of Erik Satie's "Gymnopédies".

Sheet music for this piece is available through Syrinx Press:

www.elizabethknudson.ca/syrinx-press

Theme For Pascale Boinot

Think of a forest: not quite like the ones familiar here on the West Coast (British Columbia, Canada), but perhaps something a little more surreal and enchanted.  This forest is home to the most beautiful as well as the most primitive forms of life, and much as we would like to believe that we’ve conquered our fears of the unknown, a solitary walk off the beaten path, at night, could easily prove us wrong…

This piece is an exploration of both the luminous and the darker colours of the orchestra– but is it possible that what lurks in the darkness here will reveal some of its secrets? Or will they remain intangible, dreamlike, locked beneath a grid of gnarled roots– an enigma?

"The Gnarled Root" was the winning piece of the Golden Key International Honor Society’s Performing Arts- Composition award, 2004.  It was selected for reading by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, as part of Jean Coulthard Reading Sessions (conducted by Bramwell Tovey), at the Orpheum Theatre, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, on 12 February, 2004.
 
The revised (2007) version was premiered by the West Coast Symphony Orchestra (Bujar Llapaj- conductor), in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, on 12 October, 2007.

Sheet music for this piece is available through the Canadian Music Centre:

https://cmccanada.org/shop/61521/

The Gnarled Root

"El hongo" was envisioned as something colourful, a bit eccentric, and purely fun.  The ensemble of alto sax, cello, piano, and vibraphone suggested the idea of jazz... with some unexpected Javanese gamelan phrases incorporated into the mix.  

Premiered by, and performed many times by Ensemble Symposium, including at the Sonic Boom Festival, Western Front, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, 14 March, 2004.
 
Sheet music for this piece is available through the Canadian Music Centre:

https://cmccanada.org/shop/78790/

El hongo

“For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun? And what is to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered? Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. And when you have reached the mountain top, then shall you begin to climb. And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.”
–Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931)

I’ve always thought of jazz as being the language of imagination and freedom— a conversational, fluid melding of ideas. This piece features a jazz trio (tenor saxophone, trombone, and double bass), set against the backdrop of an orchestra. The first movement of Blueprint opens with some precise, dancing Balkan rhythms, which set the tone and reveal the architecture of the work. The second movement begins as a slow meditation (taking its inspiration from the evocative quote by poet Kahlil Gibran, above), and builds toward a climax—“melting into the sun”—the idea of the release of the spirit from the body. The third movement mirrors the first movement in its exuberant rhythmic drive, and also draws a bit of inspiration for its raw melodic language from the delta blues. This was an incredibly fun piece to write, and I’d like to acknowledge with thanks the trio of musicians involved in the premiere: Brent Mah (tenor saxophone), Jim Hopson (trombone), and Graham Clark (double bass).

Blueprint received its premiere with the West Coast Symphony Orchestra, with Bujar Llapaj- conductor, on June 10th, 2016, at Christ Church Cathedral, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Sheet music (and a complete archival recording of the piece) are available through the Canadian Music Centre:

https://cmccanada.org/shop/70958/

Live at Christ Church Cathedra

Blueprint (Concerto for Jazz Trio & Orchestra)

'À travers la mer' is based loosely on the idea of an ocean voyage — Jacques Cartier’s first of three trips from France to New France (Québec), in 1534. He was not the first European to arrive in the eastern parts of Canada. However, Cartier ventured into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which was still uncharted territory, and the voyage would have been extremely dangerous, and exciting, to say the least.

With no accurate maps to guide them, and no means of accurately measuring longitude (this did not exist until over 100 years later), the travelers must have been reliant on the heavens, and intuition, to guide them. I did not want to make this piece especially programmatic, but rather, I was interested in the various conflicting emotions that may have been in the air: excitement, memory/nostalgia, trepidation, and not least, the beauty and terror that the ocean must have inspired. The ocean and the stars are present in various shifting layers, as are fragments of a folk melody from Basse-Bretagne.

Read by the Victoria Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Tania Miller), at the Victoria Conservatory of Music, 2 February, 2007.  Also read by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, as part of Jean Coulthard Reading Sessions, (conducted by Bramwell Tovey), at the Orpheum Theatre, Vancouver, 19 April, 2007. 

Sheet music is available through the Canadian Music Centre:

https://cmccanada.org/shop/63005/

Vancouver Symphony readings Apr.19/07

À travers la mer

'The Brain' was written for tenor voice, bass clarinet, and piano, with text based on a poem of the same name, by American poet, Emily Dickinson. It was premiered at Simon Fraser University Theatre (Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada), in March 2003.

“The Brain—is wider than the Sky— 
For—put them side by side—
The one the other will contain
With ease—and You—beside—

The Brain is deeper than the sea— 
For—hold them—Blue to Blue— 
The one the other will absorb—
As Sponges—Buckets—do—

The Brain is just the weight of God— 
For—Heft them—Pound for Pound— 
And they will differ—if they do—
As Syllable from Sound—”

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Sheet music for this piece is available through the Canadian Music Centre:

https://cmccanada.org/shop/72467/

The Brain

When I came across a letter penned by Irish writer James Joyce in the summer of 1904 (22 years old at the time) to his future wife, Nora Barnacle, whom he had just met– I fell in love with these words. I think they express the tender uncertainty of new love so perfectly—something many of us have felt, but few of us could articulate so clearly. This piece was composed for solo cello and stereo electroacoustic track, with Joyce’s text read by Vancouver-based author, Fraser Nixon.

'Dear Nora' was premiered at the Western Front, Vancouver, Canada, on March 18th, 2017, as part of the Sonic Boom Festival.
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“15 August, 1904

My dear Nora,

It has just struck me. I came in at half past eleven. Since then I have been sitting in an easy chair like a fool. I could do nothing. I hear nothing but your voice. I am like a fool hearing you call me ‘Dear.’ I offended two men today by leaving them coolly. I wanted to hear your voice, not theirs.

When I am with you I leave aside my contemptuous, suspicious nature. I wish I felt your head on my shoulder. I think I will go to bed.

I have been a half-hour writing this thing. Will you write something to me? I hope you will. How am I to sign myself? I won’t sign anything at all, because I don’t know what to sign myself.”
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Sheet music for this piece is available through the Canadian Music Centre:

https://cmccanada.org/shop/72468/

Dear Nora

This is an arrangement of a French folk melody from the 15th century, with words written by John M.C. Crum (from the Oxford Book of Carols, 1928).  

I created this arrangement for two female voices-- for my sister and I to sing at Easter (April 2017).

Sheet music for this piece is available through Syrinx Press: www.elizabethknudson.ca/syrinx-press/

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Now the green blade rises from the buried grain,
Wheat that in dark earth many days has lain;
Love lives again, that with the dead has been;
Love is come again like wheat arising green.

In the grave they laid him, love by hatred slain,
Thinking that he would never wake again;
Laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen;
Love is come again like wheat arising green.

Forth he came at Easter, like the risen grain,
He that for three days in the grave had lain;
Raised from the dead, my living Lord is seen;
Love is come again like wheat arising green.

When our hearts are wintry, grieving, or in pain,
Your touch can call us back to life again;
Fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been;
Love is come again like wheat arising green.

Now the Green Blade Rises

This is an arrangement of a traditional English carol with text from the 15th century, set to a melody taken from Willam Ballet's Lute Book (c. 1590).

I created this arrangement for two female voices-- my sister and I performed it at a Christmas service(December 2017).

Sheet music for this piece is available through Syrinx Press: www.elizabethknudson.ca/syrinx-press/

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Blessed be that Maid Marie;
Born He was of her body;
Very God ere time began,
Born in time the Son of man.
Eya! Ihesus hodie
Natus est de Virgine.

Sweet and blissful was the song
Changed of the Angel throng,
Peace on earth, Alleluya!
In excelsis gloria. 
Eya! Ihesus hodie
Natus est de Virgine.

Fare three Kings from far-off land,
Incense, gold and myrrh in hand;
In Bethlehem the Babe they see,
Stelle ducti lumine. 
Eya! Ihesus hodie
Natus est de Virgine.

Make we merry on this fest,
In quo Christus natus est;
On this Child I pray you call,
To assoil and save us all. 
Eya! Ihesus hodie
Natus est de Virgine.

Blessed be that Maid Marie;
Born He was of her body;
Very God ere time began,
Born in time the Son of man.
Eya! Ihesus hodie
Natus est de Virgine.

Elizabeth Knudson's Album

Blessed Be That Maid Marie

A Light exists in Spring takes its text from a poem of the same name by 19th century American poet, Emily Dickinson. It draws upon the ideas of prismic light and colour– light waves, as well as the idea of sound waves, in the form of bell-sounds created by the human voice.

“At a suitable distance, church bells could be powerfully evocative, for the strident noises of their clappers are lost and they are given a legato phrasing which wind currents or water will modulate dynamically… Perhaps no sound benefits more from distance and atmosphere.” -Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer, from his book, The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World (1977).

A Light exists in Spring was premiered by Phoenix Chamber Choir (directed by Ramona Luengen), at Queens Avenue United Church, New Westminster, B.C., Canada, on April 16, 2005.

Sheet music for this piece is available through the Canadian Music Centre:

https://cmccanada.org/shop/60297/

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A Light exists in Spring
Not present on the Year
At any other period–
When March is scarcely here

A Color stands abroad
On Solitary Fields
That Science cannot overtake
But Human Nature feels.

It waits upon the Lawn,
It shows the furthest Tree
Upon the furthest Slope you know
It almost speaks to you.

Then as Horizons step
Or Noons report away
Without the formula of sound
It passes and we stay–

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Phoenix Chamber Choir

A Light exists in Spring (for SATB choir)

The inspiration for this piece came in equal parts from the 1987 Wim Wenders film, Wings of Desire (Der Himmel Über Berlin), and from my maternal grandmother, Gudrun Joensen, who passed away in 2006. Wings of Desire appealed to me in its imagery and thematic use of angels existing alongside “earthly” beings; the film is based on the writings of poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926). The text of my piece is taken from Rilke’s Ninth Duino Elegy, which speaks of the transience of being ‘earthly’, and yet that the fact of having existed once on this earth is irrevocable. Ever since my grandmother passed away, I had been looking for an opportunity to incorporate her essence somehow into one of my compositions. She was a very gentle person, hence the whispered, hushed quality of the beginning of the piece. The very end of the piece uses a quotation of a Danish lullaby she used to sing. 

From the Ninth Elegy was written specifically for musica intima (12-voice conductorless chamber choir), and given its premiere on March 21, 2009, as part of Vancouver Pro Musica’s Sonic Boom Festival, at the Western Front, Vancouver, B.C., Canada.

Sheet music for this piece is available through the Canadian Music Centre:

https://cmccanada.org/shop/60766/

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But because being here means so much, and because
all of the transient things that are here
seem to need us…
They need us- us, the most transient.Once
for each thing, just once. Once and no more.
Just once for us too… But having been
earthly just this once, even though
it was only once, seems irrevocable.

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926), translated by Graham Good

From the Ninth Elegy (for SATB choir)

Equinox refers to the time of year when the sun crosses the celestial equator; when days and nights are of equal length. 

This piece was originally composed for a Macedonian ensemble, Music Progressive Quartet, (Vladimir Lazarevski- oboe, Vladimir Krstev- violin, Marko Videnovic- viola, and Paskal Krapovski- cello), whom I had the pleasure to tour with, while visiting the Balkans in the summer of 2012. There are many references to Balkan rhythms, melody, and ornamentation in this music, though not in any traditional context. Equinox is a convergence of elements that creates the unique sense of vitality and shifting of balance inherent in the changing seasons.

Equinox (in its original quartet version) was written in 2013, and premiered on March 30th, 2014, at Pyatt Hall, Vancouver, Canada, at the closing night of the Sonic Boom Festival. The orchestral version of Equinox was created in 2017, at the request of Maestro Bujar Llapaj, for premiere by the West Coast Symphony Orchestra (of Vancouver, Canada), while on tour through the Balkans in March 2018.

Sheet music for this piece is available through the Canadian Music Centre (for chamber quartet- oboe, violin, viola & cello, as well as this arrangement for full orchestra):

cmccanada.org/shop/68206/
cmccanada.org/shop/73047/

Equinox (orchestral version)

Wind on the Downs was inspired by a poem of the same name by British writer, Marian Allen. The poem was written in May 1917, a few days after Allen heard the news that her fiancé, Arthur Tylston Greg, had been killed in an air battle over France. He was 22 years old.

You will hear a female narrator reading Allen’s poem, while the music leads the listener on a path through the various emotional stages of grieving a loved one.  The piece incorporates some melodic ideas based on military bugle calls, which will gently morph as the poet winds her way through the journey of making sense of her loss.  Although the poem is a very personal one, I believe it’s also universal—the challenge of moving through the loss of someone close, to eventually find some kind of renewed hope in life.

Wind on the Downs was commissioned by the Allegra Chamber Orchestra, and received its premiere at Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver, Canada, on Remembrance Day (November 11th), 2017.
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“I like to think of you as brown and tall,
As strong and living as you used to be,
In khaki tunic, Sam Brown belt and all,
And standing there and laughing down at me.
Because they tell me, dear, that you are dead,
Because I can no longer see your face,
You have not died, it is not true, instead
You seek adventure in some other place.
That you are round about me, I believe;
I hear you laughing as you used to do,
Yet loving all the things I think of you;
And knowing you are happy, should I grieve?
You follow and are watchful where I go;
How should you leave me, having loved me so?

We walked along the towpath, you and I,
Beside the sluggish-moving, still canal;
It seemed impossible that you should die;
I think of you the same and always shall.
We thought of many things and spoke of few,
And life lay all uncertainly before,
And now I walk alone and think of you,
And wonder what new kingdoms you explore.
Over the railway line, across the grass,
While up above the golden wings are spread,
Flying, ever flying overhead,
Here still I see your khaki figure pass,
And when I leave the meadow, almost wait,
That you should open first the wooden gate.”

–Marian Allen (1892-1953)
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Sheet music is available through the Canadian Music Centre:
https://cmccanada.org/shop/72965/

Wind on the Downs

'You Dream in Beauty' was selected as the winning proposal for a new piece, in a composition contest sponsored by Erato Ensemble, a Vancouver-based art song/chamber music ensemble. The piece was conceived as a modern reinterpretation of Luys de Narváez’s 'Cancion del Emperador', originally written for vihuela, in 1538. Its melodic material is reworked and reimagined here with an expanded instrumentation (two voices, guitar, piano, violin, and cello), and set to a poem written in villanelle form— the villanelle form being something that originated roughly around the same time as the 'Cancion del Emperador' was composed. The poem was written specifically as text for this new piece, by Vancouver-based author Fraser Nixon.

'You Dream in Beauty' received its premiere by Erato Ensemble, at the Orpheum Annex, Vancouver, Canada, on May 26th, 2018. 

Sheet music for this piece is available through the Canadian Music Centre:

https://cmccanada.org/shop/75114/

_____________________________________

You dream in beauty 
on the western shore 
knitting labyrinths
of raveled sleep
I pass in silence through 
A stranger’s door

& when you rise, my love 
(whom I adore)
what music will you bring 
from rivers deep?
You dream in beauty 
on the western shore

Here, at harvest, when
what’s sown must reap
the rich man eats his own poor brother 
for god is good
& life is cheap
I pass in silence through
a stranger’s door

They who only want to take 
will be forever taking more 
But love is free to give
& forever ours to keep
You dream in beauty 
on the western shore

Where were you— walking slipshod 
on some farther western shore? 
Your footsteps disappearing
in retreating oceansweep
I pass in silence
through a stranger’s door

Red suns leap over mountaintops 
bright as wild lion’s roar
rains fall upon all
darkened seas
beneath dead moons 
who never weep

We dream in beauty on a stranger shore
We pass in silence through the western door

(text © Fraser Nixon, 2018)

AYRE II - Remixes

You Dream In Beauty

“Hope. It’s like a drop of honey, a field of tulips blooming in the springtime. It’s a fresh rain, a whispered promise, a cloudless sky…” –Tahereh Mafi

'A Drop of Honey' was created especially for a subset of the Allegra Chamber Orchestra–- one of the only all-female professional orchestras in the world, based in Vancouver, Canada, directed by Janna Sailor. The piece was written for a special concert, “Songs for Scheherazade”, as part of Vancouver’s Indian Summer Festival. 'A Drop of Honey' is loosely based in Raag Charukeshi, a scale used in classical Indian music, with a sharp 3rd degree of the scale, and a flat 6th and 7th. The music develops slowly and gently, through an introduction and a couple of shorter, improvised alap sections in the sitar, building into a steady tempo. Toward the middle of the piece, an ancient pavane melody, “Belle qui tiens ma vie”, by French composer Jehan Tabourot (1520-1595), makes its appearance in the strings and clarinet, before morphing back into the Charukeshi scale. The piece continues to build up to a quick-tempo jhala conclusion.

'A Drop of Honey' received its premiere by Allegra Chamber Orchestra, with Saina Khaledi (santoor), at the Ismaili Centre, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, on July 15th, 2018.

(Note: the piece was originally composed for sitar, but a santoor was substituted for the premiere performance).

Sheet music for this piece is available through the Canadian Music Centre:

https://cmccanada.org/shop/75327/

A Drop of Honey

'Acqua' was conceived as a work for eight cellos (with musicians to be seated in a circular configuration), in collaboration with a small group of dancers. The music’s formal structure draws roughly from Indian classical music, with a slower introduction section, followed by a more rhythmic section—with rhythmic patterns inspired both by Indian classical music, as well as by the music of Mali.

The piece is tied to the various states of water, beginning with ice: transparent textures, simple yet elegant ornamentation, plenty of space to breathe—melting into ripples, and agile layers of rhythmic energy and activity. Then, there is the plunge into the climactic section: “Water is the driving force of nature”, wrote Leonardo da Vinci. Water truly is the source of life, too—without it, we would not exist. It is both a subtle and an incredibly powerful force. Finally, the piece transforms into rising “vapour” at the end of the work. 'Acqua' is an exploration of extremes: an ode to the gentle beauty and power of water.

'Acqua' was written for and premiered by members of Allegra Chamber Orchestra (directed by Janna Sailor), and premiered at Notional Space, Vancouver, on September 15th, 2018, with dancers (directed by choreographer Linda Arkelian).

Sheet music for this piece is available through the Canadian Music Centre:

https://cmccanada.org/shop/75530/

A video link to an excerpt of the piece is also available here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SnWc-J6kQw

Acqua- premiere-Sept-15-2018

Acqua

Ere Sleep Comes Down takes its text from three verses of a poem (Ere Sleep Comes Down to Soothe the Weary Eyes) by African-American writer Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906).  While the poetic imagery is vivid— encompassing the range of emotion and intensity of a fully-lived life—I was drawn to the sense of calm and peace found in the final verse.  The soul finding a sense of peace is something I think we hope to find at the end of any long journey.  The music reflects this sense of calm, with its gentle 12/8 meter, as well as a sense of yearning with its harmonies inspired by traditional gospel and blues. 

Ere Sleep Comes Down was composed for Chor Leoni Men’s Choir (Vancouver, Canada), in early 2019, in response to a call for new scores, and the piece tied for first place in the Chor Leoni’s national Canadian Choral Composition Competition. Elizabeth Knudson received a Barbara Pentland Award for Outstanding Composition (presented by the Canadian Music Centre) for this work. Ere Sleep Comes Down received its premiere on May 10th, 2019 by Chor Leoni Men’s Choir, directed by Erick Lichte, at the Orpheum Annex, Vancouver, Canada.

Sheet music for this piece is available through the Canadian Music Centre:

https://cmccanada.org/shop/75919/

- - -
Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes, 
Which all the day with ceaseless care have sought
The magic gold which from the seeker flies;
Ere dreams put on the gown and cap of thought,
And make the waking world a world of lies--
Of lies most palpable, uncouth, forlorn,
That say life's full of aches and tears and sighs--
Oh, how with more than dreams the soul is torn,
Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes.


Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes, 
Where ranges forth the spirit far and free?
Through what strange realms and unfamiliar skies
Tends her far course to lands of mystery?
To lands unspeakable-- beyond surmise,
Where shapes unknowable to being spring,
Till, faint of wing, the Fancy fails and dies
Much wearied with the spirit's journeying,
Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes.

When sleep comes down to seal the weary eyes,
The last dear sleep whose soft embrace is balm,
And whom sad sorrow teaches us to prize
For kissing all our passions into calm,
Ah, then no more we heed the sad world's cries,
Or seek to probe th' eternal mystery,
Or fret our souls at long-withheld replies,
At glooms through which our visions cannot see,
When sleep comes down to seal the weary eyes.
- - -
Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)

Ere Sleep Comes Down (for men's choir)

"Ménage à trois", for piano trio (violin, cello & piano) was premiered at Simon Fraser University Theatre, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, in March 2003, and also received a performance by Ensemble Neptune, at the Baie des Chaleurs International Chamber Music Festival, at L.E.R. Theatre, Dalhousie, New Brunswick, Canada, on July 9th, 2009.

Sheet music for this piece is available through the Canadian Music Centre:

https://cmccanada.org/shop/60515/

Ménage à trois

Alchemy was conceived as a trio for horn, cello, and piano, in three movements.  The three-part structure was inspired by the three stages of the medieval alchemical process-- attempting to turn base metals into gold, or the ‘elixir of life’: 1: corruption/dissolution, 2: purification (linked to the moon and femininity), and 3: enlightenment/sublimation (linked to the sun and masculinity).  The horn introduces a short theme in the first movement, which is then transformed through seven variations-- seven being the number of metals involved in the alchemical process.  The second movement is slow, sensuous, and lyrical, drawing inspiration from jazz tonalities, as well as from the delicate raindrop-like sound and polyrhythmic patterns of the kora (west African harp).  The third movement brings the piece to a bright, rhythmically intense culmination.

Alchemy received its premiere, with Oliver de Clercq, horn, Ariel Barnes, cello, and Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa, piano, at St. Mark’s Anglican Church, Vancouver, Canada, May 20, 2012.

This commission was funded in part by the Meir Rimon Commissioning Assistance Program of the International Horn Society.

Sheet music for this piece is available through the International Horn Society:

http://www.hornsociety.org/marketplace/online-library#!/~/product/id=18634910

Alchemy (for horn, cello & piano)

Mahogany was inspired by two very different musical sources: that of early 20th century Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu, and that of early 20th century Cuban bandleader and composer Ignacio Piñeiro. On the surface, these two sources of music seem disparate, but upon closer inspection, one might discover some similarities between the two. I was drawn to Martinu’s concept of “vertical space,” as well as to Piñeiro’s notions of rhythm and melody. Mahogany grew out of my love for the cello, and my desire to explore the richly-coloured timbre of its voice.

Mahogany received its premiere by cellists Sue Round, Joseph Elworthy, and Ariel Barnes, at Douglas College Theatre, New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada, on August 27th, 2005.  The piece received its second performance at the Sonic Boom Festival, at the Western Front, Vancouver, Canada, on March 19, 2006.

Sheet music for this piece is available through the Canadian Music Centre:

https://cmccanada.org/shop/60299/

Mahogany (for three celli)

A Vagabond Song was based upon a poem of the same name by Canadian maritime poet, Bliss Carman. It is a celebration of the vibrant colours and free-spirited feeling that the autumn season can evoke.

A Vagabond Song was the winning composition in the national Canadian Women Choral Composing Competition, 2005, and was performed by DaCapo Chamber Choir at the Open Ears Festival in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, May 1, 2005.  Other performances include: Massey Choir, at Massey College, University of Toronto (Canada), November 22, 2008, several performances by the Northern Lights Chamber Choir on tour around British Columbia, Canada, February-March 2012, and two performances by the Vancouver Chamber Choir, in April and October 2018.

Sheet music for this piece is available through the Canadian Music Centre (for SATB choir, as well as an arrangement for string quartet):

https://cmccanada.org/shop/62298/
https://cmccanada.org/shop/70431/

- - -

There is something in the autumn that is native to my blood.
Touch of manner, hint of mood;
And my heart is like a rhyme,
With the yellow and the purple and the crimson keeping time.

The scarlet of the maples can shake me like a cry
Of bugles going by.
And my lonely spirit thrills
To see the frosty asters like a smoke upon the hills.

There is something in October sets the gypsy blood astir:
We must rise and follow her,
When from every hill aflame
She calls each vagabond by name.
- - -
Bliss Carman (1861-1929)

A Vagabond Song (for SATB choir)

Elizabeth Knudson is a nationally award-winning composer of orchestral, chamber, vocal & electroacoustic music, and an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre.  

For a more detailed bio: http://www.elizabethknudson.ca/bio/
To request purchase/rental/loan of sheet music, please visit the Canadian Music Centre website: https://cmccanada.org/composer/elizabeth-knudson/

Popular tracks by Elizabeth Knudson