RISE UP, MY LOVE Prayers of Kierkegaard by Samuel Barber Rise Up, My Love by Imant Raminsh Five Hebrew Songs by Eric Whitacre Requiem Da Camera by Gerald Finzi Flos Campi by Ralph Vaughan Williams
Robert Levine, viola Tanya Kruse Ruck, soprano Gerard Sundberg, baritone
Songs
of love, whether human or divine, have captured the imagination of
composers throughout the centuries. Milwaukee Symphony principal
violist Robert Levine, vocal soloists, and the Bel Canto Chamber
Orchestra join the Chorus to perform five passionate expressions of
devotion set to music by five twentieth-century masters of composition.
The offerings on this concert run from Eric Whitacre’s intimate musical
postcards on Hebrew love poems written by his wife, to Samuel Barber’s
setting of selected prayers by Danish theologian Søren Kierkegaard, a
work that was described at its premiere as a "serious, moving and
convincing piece." Also featured is Flos Campi, in which
Vaughan Williams uses solo viola, orchestra, and wordless chorus to
express the gamut of emotions found in the love poetry of the Song of
Songs.
