CDThe way of the seeker / Larry Sitsky.
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Work | Composer | Performers | Duration | MP3 | |
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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.
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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