Again (after ecclesiastes)

Type
Piece
Composer
David Lang
Composer Nationality
American
Composer Date of Birth
1957
Text
Loose adaptation of text from Ecclesiastes
Year Composed
2005
Pages
13
Minutes
5
Language
English
Voicing
6 part mixed chorus
Sacred or Secular
Secular
Mood
Restrained, holding back
Description

again (after ecclesiates) is a setting of a few lines from the beginning of the Book of Ecclesiastes, freely adapted by me. Ecclesiastes is a Hebrew prophet (in Hebrew his name is Kohelet) and his book is traditionally read during the harvest holiday of Sukkot. Kohelet moves powerfully from the cycling of the seasons to other endless natural and human cycles, creating a strange equilibrium of hope and futility.
In my setting I wanted to make a piece that might convey the weariness of all of these endless cycles, concentrating on the weight of things repeating again. And again.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ZM_zRK5Zd5piDSsf9HrDFSOzib9Xpmfm
Audio Credit
Umberto Belfiore
Group
C3LA
Performances
C3LA: May 2018 (Conversations with Strangers); C3LA: February 2020 (Patterns)