Am Abend (New Horizons) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0193408252 ISBN 13: 9780193408258

Publisher: Oxford University Press Music, 2015

SATB (with divisions) unaccompanied Am Abend is a setting of 'Grodek', which is thought to be the last work of the Austrian poet Georg Trakl. Written in 1913, the year before Trakl committed suicide at the age of 27, the poem is set in the town of Grodek on the Eastern Front, where he had served as a medical officer. Jackson's setting is agonizingly moving, opening with an eerie alto melody before the rest of the choir enter with haunting harmonies and cluster chords, reflecting the darkness of the text. Grace notes and glissandi add an Eastern flavour and evoke the 'wild lament' and 'dark flutes' of Trakl's poem. Jackson's setting builds to a powerful climax, before the altos close with a quiet, repeated fragment on 'die ungebornen Enkel' ('the unborn grandsons'). First performed by the BBC Singers, directed by Paul Brough, at Milton Court Concert Hall, London, on 11 February 2016.

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About the Author:

Gabriel Jackson was born in Bermuda. After three years as a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral he studied composition at the Royal College of Music. Jackson's music has been commissioned, performed and broadcast worldwide, and his works have been presented at many festivals including Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Spitalfields, and the BBC Proms. His liturgical pieces are in the repertoires of many of Britain's cathedral and collegiate choirs, and his choral works in general have been recorded by some of the world's leading choirs including Polyphony, The Vasari Singers, The State Choir of Latvia, and Merton College Choir, Oxford. He is currently the Associate Composer to the BBC Singers, who have premiered and broadcast a number of recent commissions. Over recent years Jackson's music has been equally focussed on instrumental works. Commissions include works for organist Michael Bonaventure, Red Note Ensemble, and the Lunar Sax Quartet.

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