Taras Shevchenko (Ukr) trans. E.L. Voynich (E), Vasyl Stus (Ukr) trans. Marco Carynnyk (E), Vasyl Stus (Ukr) trans. Matthew Raphael Johnson (E), Serhiy Zadan (Ukr) trans. Virlana Tkacz & Wanda Phipps (E)
3(III=picc).2.corA.2.bcl.2.dbn-4.3.3.1-timp.perc(4):glsp/vib/marimba/t.bells/wdbls/claves/tamb/BD/susp.cym(sm)/bell.plates/gong-harp-pft(=cel)-str
Abreviaturas (PDF)
Boosey & Hawkes
“...powerfully affecting, dark and yet dignified… a prolonged cry of defiance against the oppression suffered by Ukraine at Russian hands down the centuries… It takes the form of settings of four poems, the earliest of which was written in Tsarist times, when the language was banned. Another was written by a poet who died in a Soviet labour camp; the latest is about the conflict in the Donetsk region… The note of protest and lament resounds through all of them.”
Daily Telegraph
“…this 25-minute work explores themes of war and displacement via text by three Ukraine-born poets who span the imperial, Soviet and modern eras… Turnage’s choices are strong and urgent. So is his music, at times stark and explosive, as at the start of ‘Weep, sky, weep’, yet lyrical too, with evocative, sombre low woodwind, piano, celesta, harp and bells… a thrilling Turnage premiere.”
The Observer
“He’s woven Ukrainian folk songs into the score: pairs of woodwinds lament in close harmony and a solo flute trails birdsong across the eloquent vocal lines... The final song deals harrowingly with recent events, and tastes all the more bitter for being so lucid, and so obviously without any musical agenda other than compassion.”
The Spectator