Geoffrey Alvarez:
vocal
Vocal Music
Hölderlinfenster
song cycle (in German) for high voice and piano
sample score
Award winning recording: Willowhayne Records
Letter from Friedrich Hölderlin to Casimir Ulrich Böhlendorf
Lieder
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In 2013, Carola
Schlüter, with the Phorminx Ensemble, premiered my song-cycle
susurritos sonrosados in Darmstadt and Tübingen.
The power and virtuosity of the singer’s performance and stunning location,
near the tower where Hölderlin spent the last 36 years of his life (pictured
above) and his words “…and the philosophical light around my window is now my
joy...” (letter to Boehlendorf, December 2, 1802) made the composition of a
new song cycle
A recital programme including this work has been devised by Ms Schlüter - details and a recording of the opening letter and three of the songs here.
The tariff below applies to the second edition.
Is-sliem g
a Maltese Ave Maria for baritone, trumpet and organ
This work was written in direct response to working with Maltese baritone Joseph Lia and trumpeter Isaac Lucas during the 2016 Malta International Organ Festival.
Cover illustration: The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Ghaxaq, Malta.
Photograph © Richard Faenza 2012
score
Tliet g
Three songs of new departures
a Maltese song-cycle setting three poems by Ruzar Briffa
Following the invitation in 2011 by musicologist, opera singer and dramaturge Joseph Vella Bondin to participate in the adjudication of the Second National Music Competition for Maltese Composers, Geoffrey Álvarez became deeply interested in the culture of the island of Malta including its unique semitic-romance language and it seemed inevitable that he was drawn towards a Maltese text to set; his association with Bondin was the obvious first choice for this project. However, Bondin felt that his literary talents were better expressed in theatrical works and suggested instead three poems by Ruzar Briffa which had a common theme.
“I chose the three poems
to fit a specific theme: a focus on three important episodes in the
poet’s life; his reaction to family changes through his sister’s
marriage; his personal reaction to what he found in India as part of
his medical studies; his reaction to political changes in the beloved
country that gave him birth.”
sample score
A Magnificat for high women's or children's voices and string ensemble.
Orchestral material available from
More information here
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Instrumentation
Soprano, Flute doubling Piccolo, Alto and Bass Flute
B flat Clarinet doubling B flat Bass Clarinet,
Percussionist: Maracas, Djembe, Xylorimba,
Written for the Phorminx Ensemble.
First two performances by the Phorminx Ensemble.
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Akademie für Tonkunst, Darmstadt. 9th September 2013
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Tuebingen, Ev Stift. 27th September 2013
Composer
Sussuritos sonrosadas is a Traumzyklus in five poems:
throughout the first poem
the poet lies on a bed half awake, luxuriating, barely moving
and relaxed, caressed by the rich lower notes of the bass flute,
clarinet arabesques and undulating rolls played by the maracas.
However, as soon as the poet falls asleep in the second poem,
(s)he is unnerved by dark, menacing, constantly changing
threats welling up from the unconscious
Suddenly in poem four
through the sky, much as Ganymede was by Zeus. The harmony
is here fleeting and fluid whilst there are elements of
motivic cohesion, such as the recurrence of a strident triplet
crotchet figure played by the flute near the beginning of the poem.
caído Icarense initially returns to the stasis of the first poem, but now
characterised by high piccolo notes counter-pointed against low clarinet notes;
the infinite expanse of a bright summer sky. The poet is vertiginously propelled to a
distant speck in the sky and becomes identified with this object, Icarus. The howling air
rushing past the hero during the inevitable descent takes his breath away, suggested by the
use of a variety of extended techniques for
the flute, such as jet whistles
Three of the poems were inspired by paintings by Boucher, Goya and Bruegel;
listeners are invited to discover the relevant pictures at their leisure.
Illustration: photograph of the sun taken by NASA.
Performing material available from Geoffrey Álvarez
Illustration by Polly Hope.
Illustration by Polly Hope.
excerpt
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Figaro: Parrot Fashion 2
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Catch for Bilitis 4
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Branwen
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Dorabella
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Lurcher
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Messiaen
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Giorgio
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Fugue for Thought 3
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Figaro
Figaro: a green amazonian parrot, very bossy.
Bilitis; a tabby-point Siamese cat, a fat lady.
Doxy: a mongrel terrier, passionate and assertive.
Branwen: a smooth haired grey welsh lurcher, very poetic.
Dorabella: Branwenʼs daughter, a giddy girl and very pretty.
Millie: Doxyʼs mother, a fox terrier, noisy and obsessive.
Giorgio: a bantam cockerel, macho and aggressive.
Giorgiʼs four wives: totally submissive females.
Performing material available from Geoffrey Álvarez
sample score
My Last Muse
a song cycle for bass and orchestra: poems by Robert Graves
sample score
Instrumentation
Piccolo, Flute, Oboe, Cor Anglais, Clarinet in B flat, Alto Saxophone, Bassoon,
2 Horns in F, Trumpet in B flat, Trombone, Tuba,
Percussion (4 players) 2 Side Drums, Tenor drum, Bass Drum, Clashed Cymbals, Suspended Cymbal, Anvil, Iron piping, Xylophone, Vibraphone,
Bass, Harp, Guitar, Strings
The
search for a ‘grammar of musical myth’ as Graves’ White Goddess is a
‘grammar of poetic myth’
This work
attracted the attention of feminist theologian Asphodel Long,
ethnomusicologist and editor of New Grove, Veronica Doubleday and the
poetess Kathleen Raine. in 2008 I returned to St
John
Missa Elissa
peruse and purchase
for chorus, timpani, organ and strings
Illustration: queen Dido-Elissa of Carthage
sample score
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excerpt
The Magnificat was premiered by the Waltham Singers conducted by Andrew Fardell in 2010.
The recording here is of a private celebration at St Alban's the Martyr in Holborn, London.
The first performance of the Nunc Dimittis was at the wedding of Tamsyn Steel to
Michael David Rose September, 2006 in St Peterʼs Church, Mevagissy, Cornwall,
the second performance: the funeral of Anna Greening, All Hallows by the Tower, November 2007
Peruse and purchase Magnificat alone
Peruse and purchase Nunc Dimittis alone
Three Sacred Drinking Songs
El duende
a song cycle for tenor and piano
six poems by Federico García Lorca
sample score
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Cumbre
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Dos Estrellas del Mar
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Saeta
Kevin West - Tenor, Geoffrey Álvarez - Pianoforte
Bran
for soprano, clarinet and harp
duration circa 72
Tríptico Nicaragüense
three poems by Rubén Darío for tenor and pianoforte
The Raging Goddesses
for two sopranos and two percussionists
Première: Toronto, Canada.
sample score
El corazón del mundo
for soprano and orchestra
peruse and purchase
The poem El corazón del mundo is from Masque and
Marriage, the third part of a five opera dream based on the
Weltanschauung of the Kogi of Colombia: The King
There are two main sources: Los Kogi de La Sierra Nevada by Reichel Dolmatoff and The Heart of the World; the latter is both a documentary and a book by Alan Ereira. Alan Ereira notes the universal resonance of Kogi beliefs in his work cited above, finding echoes in other world religions: the Madrona, for instance, mentioned in the song, is the archetype of the Great Mother found in cultures as diverse as Ancient Mexico, Old Europe, India: the Virgin of the Catholic world.
illustration: Aztec statue of Coatlicue, the earth goddess
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The Entry into Jerusalem
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The Agony in the Garden
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The Flagellation
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Soloists: