Soprano Susan Narucki, a Grammy Award winner, has given over one hundred world premieres and collaborated closely with many leading contemporary composers.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Composer Aaron Helgeson's music explores the poetic boundaries of musical perception, drawing on phenomenology, acoustics, literature, and cognitive science.
Composition History
The inspiration for "Poems of sheer nothingness" came from Aaron Helgeson discovering an old book of Occitan troubadour song texts, particularly a poem by Guillaume de Poitiers.
Performer Biography
The Talea Ensemble, which performs on this album, was called 'a crucial part of the New York cultural ecosphere' by the New York Times and received the 2013 CMA/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming.
Recording & Production
This album was recorded at Oktaven Studios in Yonkers, NY, across two sessions in June and November 2014.
Compositional Technique
The texts for "Poems of sheer nothingness" are sung in Occitan, an antique language whose sensuality and hidden puzzles add another layer of meaning to the music.
