Like any number of composers since the Romantic era, Gregory Spears (born 1977) does not limit his Requiem to the traditional liturgical texts, although he does include several -- Requiem aeternam, Agnus Dei, Kyrie, Libera me, and Lux Aeterna -- interspersed with Medieval and Renaissance texts in Breton and Middle French. Spears' influences are the kind of mystical minimalism of Arvo Pärt and Peteris Vasks, albeit considerably freer and more contrapuntally involved, and the archaic sound of Medieval and Renaissance music. ...
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Like any number of composers since the Romantic era, Gregory Spears (born 1977) does not limit his Requiem to the traditional liturgical texts, although he does include several -- Requiem aeternam, Agnus Dei, Kyrie, Libera me, and Lux Aeterna -- interspersed with Medieval and Renaissance texts in Breton and Middle French. Spears' influences are the kind of mystical minimalism of Arvo Pärt and Peteris Vasks, albeit considerably freer and more contrapuntally involved, and the archaic sound of Medieval and Renaissance music. His vocal writing is unconventional and often unpredictable, but it is skillful and lies well for the voice. Drones play a significant part in the Requiem, and there are large expanses of harmonic stasis through which haunting lyrical vocal and instrumental melodies ethereally waft and intermingle. In the climactic Lux aeterna and in the Postlude, the music soars into luminous layers of ecstatic, high-flying counterpoint. The piece was first performed in 2010 as an opera/ballet with...
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Add this copy of Requiem to cart. $18.77, new condition, Sold by newtownvideo rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from huntingdon valley, PA, UNITED STATES, published 2011 by New Amsterdam.