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way of the seeker

CD

The way of the seeker / Larry Sitsky.

  • Published by Move Records — 2006 [MD3309] — 1 CD (56 min.)
  • Purchase Price: $22.73 (Usually ships in 1-6 days) — Add to Cart
  • Library Availability: CD 1763 — Reference (not for loan) copy only

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Featured Australian works

  Work Composer PerformersDurationMP3
The way of the seeker (2004) six movements for solo piano
Recorded/performed at: Hobart Conservatorium, on 22 Oct 06.
Larry Sitsky Michael Kieran Harvey 49 mins, 58 sec. Buy as MP3

Also includes: Introduction by Larry Sitsky.

Product details

This disc contains just one 50 minute work in six movements entitled 'The way of the seeker', a new composition by Larry Sitsky.

Judith Crispin describes the work thus in her notes in the CD booklet: "Sitsky's highly virtuosic work for solo piano The Way of the Seeker (completed 11 December 2004) is dedicated to the Canadian pianist and composer Gordon Rumson. This work takes its title from the English translation of Hakim Sanai's mystical text the Sair al-Ibad ila'l Maad (the Way of the Seeker) written in the 11th century. Abul Majd bin Majdud bin Adam, also known as Hakim Sanai, was one of the three great mystical Mathnavi poets of Persia, the others being Shaikh Faridu'd-Din 'Attar and Jalalu'd-Din Rumi. The youngest of these, Jalalu'd-Din Rumi, expressed his great admiration for Attar and Sanai in writing "Attar is the soul and Sanai its two eyes, I came after Sanai and Attar." In the translation of Sanai's Sair al-Ibad ila'l Maad by Idries Shah, the text is divided into definite sections. In The Way of the Seeker, Sitsky follows these divisions, using quotations from each section as subtitles for each of the six musical movements. Each movement should be understood as a meditation on its corresponding quotation.

I: Prologue ... pp ... you are not of water, yet stir into movement, not of earth, yet lend it shape.

II: Birth ... mf ... there is in the soul an intuition of a superior state.

III: The Guide ... p ... for your journey on this arduous path, your only provision will be fire ...

IV: The Journey ... f ... you are prey to evil delusions.

V: Beyond Time ... ff ... pay the ferryman his fare, and leave behind the world of names ...

VI: Epilogue: The Man of Light ... pp ... the distractions from The Way are many in your world ...

Written in the tradition of Liszt, Busoni, Godowsky and Scriabin, The Way of the Seeker also responds to Sitsky's western musical heritage. A student of the virtuoso pianist and Busoni disciple Egon Petri, Sitsky was initiated into an esoteric understanding of composition that has persisted throughout his entire creative output. Like many of Sitsky's pieces, The Way of The Seeker begins in darkness; the first movement is all in a low register, and ends in light; in this case the Epilogue is quite literally entitled "The Man of Light". This emergence from darkness into light is a recurrent theme in those of Sitsky's pieces that document the various stages of the mystical journey. In this regard The Way of The Seeker can be regarded as a close relative of Sitsky's Twelve Mystical Preludes after the Nuctemeron of Apollonius of Tyana (1991). In composing The Way of The Seeker, Sitsky intended to generate a largescale virtuosic work from as few pre-compositional determinants as possible. Each of the six movements is assigned a predominant dynamic, but the shaping of these dynamics inside each section is left to the performer. The durations of the movements telescope over the length of the work." - Judith Crispin

Duration: 56 min.

Contents note:

I. Prologue (4 min.) -- II. Birth (12 min.) -- III. The guide (10 min.) -- IV. The journey (7 min., 30 sec.) -- V. Beyond time (4 min., 30 sec.) -- VI. Epilogue: the man of light (4 min., 20 sec.).

Liner notes include programme and biographical notes.


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