David Lang

David Lang - Death Speaks - I. You will return

I Lie - David Lang

This piece was commissioned and performed by Sarah Curro in 2009. It is called "Letter to Balhannah" because it originated as a letter on manuscript paper to my friend Hannah (who also plays violin) from Balhannah, a town in the Adelaide Hills.

Letter to Balhannah

Feelings - David Lang

David Lang: cheating, lying, stealing

David Lang- Increase

All excerpts recorded in live performance. This list assembled May, 2015.

David Lang, No one imagined from "Little Match Girl Passion" (recorded 2/8/14).

Mountain, 2014. Commissioned by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

Mountain - David Lang, 2002 Grantee

Concerto (World to Come), 2010. A meditation on hope and hopelessness, the piece was written for Maya Beiser and commissioned by Saint Paul Films and Swedish Television for the choreographer Pontus Lidberg.

Concerto (World To Come) - David Lang, 2002 Grantee

Simple Song # 3 - Sumi Jo ( Youth Soundtrack )

David Lang - gravity
performed by HOCKET (Sarah Gibson & Thomas Kotcheff)

Performed live on 11/21/15 @ the Brand Library & Art Center - - Glendale, California

David Lang - gravity

"mist is rising" from death speaks -- live performance at Le Poisson Rouge on January 19, 2017 with Ashley Bathgate (cello), Karl Larson (piano), and Brendon Randall-Myers (guitar)

David Lang: mist is rising - death speaks

David Lang - I Lie

David Lang - Face So Pale

Compiling four pieces for four different ensembles, David Lang’s "writing on water" is a free-flowing recording that presents several unusual and rarely revealed facets of the composer who is perhaps most well-known for his monumental choral works (the Pulitzer-winning "the little match girl passion" and the more recent epic "the national anthems"), as well as his poignant song cycles ("death speaks" and "love fail"). 

From the struggle between dissonance and melody portrayed in “pierced” to the sweeping, oceanic scope of the title piece, the music defines a path that can be as serpentine as it is rigid (“forced march”) or as minimal as it is immense. Riveting performances by Alarm Will Sound, Real Quiet, Crash Ensemble, the London Sinfonietta, Synergy Vocals and more make writing on water an electrifying, free-spirited and rambunctious addition to the Cantaloupe catalog.

writing on water

David Lang & Alarm Will Sound – increase

David Lang - Cheating, Lying, Stealing

Also known as "Sol Tempest", if you want the more pretentious title. Written in December 2011, revised January 2012 at National Music Camp.

Summer Thunderstorm

David Lang - last spring

Sacra/Profana: David Lang, I Lie

How to Pray, by David Lang. From our Freedom of Worship program (part of the Four Freedoms Project). Performed at Westmoreland United Congregational Church of Christ in Washington, DC in February, 2019. Conducted by Blair Skinner.

David Lang

Salwa Rashad