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Artist: Richard Danielpour
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Richard Danielpour:

Songs in Three Languages w/Plitmann - Iranshahr

Richard Danielpour writes…..I have known Hila Plitmann since 2010; since that time, we have collaborated on seven different works together. She has sung my music on five different Naxos recordings over the years (Ancient Voices, 8.578311-12; Darkness in the Ancient Valley, 8.559707; The Passion of Yeshua, 8.559885-86; Toward a Season of Peace, 8.559772; String Quartet No. 7 ‘Psalms of Solace’, 8.559845). We have each had such a productive professional relationship with Naxos of America and with one another, so it seemed fitting that we should create a recording together of three new works of mine, two of which were commissioned and composed expressly for Hila.

I chose the three works on this album – Songs of Love and Loss, Canti Della Natura (‘Songs of Nature’), and Songs of My Father – in part because each work is in a different language. Each of these languages has been important and central to me throughout my life: Songs of Love and Loss is in Farsi, the language of my Persian ancestors; Canti Della Natura is in Italian, which is a language that I speak fluently from my many years of living in Italy; and Songs of My Father is derived from poems in English that were written by my father, Sayid Danielpour. These poems of my father, which have remained very dear to me throughout the years, were written in 1964 as love letters to my mother.

Richard Danielpour:

Darkness in the Ancient Valley w/Nashville Symph.

Award-winning composer Richard Danielpour, one of the most gifted and sought-after composers of his generation, has attracted an impressive array of champions; his commissioners include such celebrated artists as Yo-Yo Ma, Jessye Norman, Dawn Upshaw, Emanuel Ax, Fredericka von Stade, Thomas Hampson, the Kalichstein-Laredo- Robinson Trio, Gil Shaham, Sarah Chang, Philippe Entremont, the Guarneri and Emerson String Quartets, the New York City and Pacific Northwest Ballets, the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia, Vienna Chamber and Stuttgart Radio Orchestra, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, and National Symphonies, Orchestre National de France, Chamber Music society of Lincoln Center, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and many more. 

Darkness in the Ancient Valley is a symphony in five movements, commissioned by the Nashville and Pittsburgh Symphonies. The fifth movement, which includes a soprano voice, was written for Hila Plitmann. The text comes from an English translation of a Rumi poem (Divan 1559), and involves a woman who refuses to retaliate against her husband, or lover, in spite of his abusive and cruel behavior.  Lacrimae Beati means “Tears of the Blessed One,” the blessed one in this instance being Mozart. The title also refers to the source material for this ten minute work – the Lacrimosa from Mozart’s Requiem. It is generally assumed that the first eight bars of the Lacrimosa are among the last that Mozart wrote.  A Woman’s Life was composed in the summer of 2007 for Angela Brown who premièred the rôle of Cilla in Margaret Garner (2005). While I was consistently impressed by her artistry and power onstage (she sang the rôle in Philadelphia and Cincinnati), I was especially taken with her graciousness and deep compassion for all of her colleagues.

Richard Danielpour:

The Passion of Yeshua

Richard Danielpour's World Premiere Recording, The Passion of Yeshua led by JoAnn Falletta with the Buffalo Philharmonic

GRAMMY® NOMINATED IN 3 CATEGORIES:

BEST ENGINEERED ALBUM, CLASSICAL
BEST CHORAL PERFORMANCE
BEST CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL COMPOSITION

Richard Danielpour's newest oratorio, The Passion of Yeshua, a world premiere recording, is now available on Naxos. Presented and commissioned by the GRAMMY Award-winning Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Director JoAnn Falletta, the two-CD set also features a superb group of soloists led by Hila Plitmann (soprano), J'Nai Bridges (mezzo soprano), Kenneth Overton (baritone), Matthew Worth (baritone), Timothy Fallon (tenor) and James Bass (bass) with the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus (Andrew Luebke, Director) and the UCLA Chamber Singers (James Bass, Director).