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Songs of Imagined Love

for tenor and piano

Year
2018
Duration
16'
Category
Vocal
Texts
Text by Han Lash
Commission
Commissioned by Carnegie Hall
Premiere
October 26, 2018 · New York, NY (USA)
Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall
Paul Appleby, tenor; Natalia Katyukova, piano
Publisher
Schott

Songs of Imagined Love sets texts I wrote inspired by some of the poems of Ludwig Rellstab, which Franz Schubert sets in his Schwanengesang. While my piece does not represent a direct relationship to Schubert, I found inspiration in Schubert’s eloquent reading and interpretation of text through his music.

In setting my own texts, I was interested in approaching the intersection of music and language as an equal-partnering dance between the two. The texts are often abstract, suggesting rather than narrating. I play with musical clarity by constantly shifting the harmonic meanings within my music, creating a network of relationships from which I can draw and through which I can draw multiple possible pathways. Gabriel Jenks

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Poems
Messenger
Song
After Waking
Goodbye