ALDO KUMAR: TEHTANJE DUŠ (ORATORIJ)

Classical and Modern Music

Format: CD

Code: 114496

EAN: 3838898114496

The oratorio Tehtanje duš (The Weighing of Souls) is a ten-movement composition for symphony orchestra, mixed choir, organ, vocal soloists, bells and šine. It encourages the listener to reflect on our lives and the paths between home and fleeing.

1. In Prologue, there is a sonic confrontation between two completely contrasting sonic elements: the sound of the organ and šine (an instrument that I constructed from pieces of railway tracks). The sonic image of Prologue shifts between the groaning of the sounds of the organ and the metal sounds of the railway tracks, which today carry many souls who have been forced to leave their homes due to a combination of events.
2. The content of the second movement, O magnum mysterium, is based on a Renaissance Latin text that describes the time of the great mysteries of birth, the birth of a child who is born while fleeing. Thus, the first eyes cast on the newborn being are the amiable gazes of animals, who generate the warmth of home with their bodies.
3. Interlude 1 is an organ improvisation, which looks back at the previous movement, while at the same time announcing a new musical event.
4. The central movement of the oratorio, Tehtanje duš (The Weighing of Souls), is an archaic, harrowing folk tale originating from the village of Sužid near Kobarid. It speaks of a poor, wandering soul and its dramatic encounter with two devils and Mary. The weighing of good and evil is reflected musically through the different orchestration approaches, rhythmic-melodic patterns and timbral colouring of the individual narrative strands of the narrator.
5. Interlude 2 is an organ improvisation that, with ruthless perpetual motion, builds the image of unstoppable movement, the eternal transition between mightiness and its mirror image.
6. Zvonovi (Bells) brings a game of bells and their repetition. The movement is a sonic picture of the ringing of five bells, which, with their repeating variations, create a meditative atmosphere.
7. Kar je že dolgo želel svet (What the World Has Long Desired) is the first of the final three movements, which break with the topic of fleeing. With their musical and substantial-experiential atmosphere, these movements turn to the traditional domestic environment.
8. Eno je dete rojeno (A Child Has Been Born) is a simple, yet deeply felt story about birth, illuminated through the prism of the extremely personal experience of the female voice.
9. Interlude 3 is a gentle, thematically monochromatic organ image, which represents a bridge between the content of the preceding movement and the announcement of the final movement of the oratorio.
10. The last movement, Poglejte vi ljudje (Look, You People), is a hymn to the sun and its light, a hymn that, on the path between fleeing and home, choses hope.

Aldo Kumar

Aldo Kumar is a composer with an extensive and diverse compositional opus. He writes vocal, chamber, symphonic, vocal-instrumental, film and theater music. For his work, he has received many prizes and awards in Slovenia and abroad, including the Prešeren Fund Award and three Borštnik Awards for theater music.
Among his most important works are: Strastra for symphony orchestra and organ, Istralja for symphony orchestra, Na struni Merkurja cantata for mixed choir, tenor, baritone and symphony orchestra, Čelo Alp for large symphony orchestra, Varda Concerto for piano and symphony orchestra, Suita sedmega dne for symphony orchestra, Triluna for symphony orchestra, Slovenska suita for orchestra, Improstrastra for big band, piano, soloists and mixed choir, Istrska suita for string orchestra, Post Art ali Glej, piše ti Wolfgang for piano and string orchestra, In krave bi bile očarane for chamber orchestra, Nostalgica for chamber orchestra, Skok čez rob sveta for youth choir and orchestra, Riba na topolu for children’s choir, youth choir, mixed choir and chamber orchestra, and Al’ pekel al’ nebo one act opera. He has an ongoing working relationship with various conductors (Marko Letonja, Milko Lazar, Simon Dvoršak, Anton Nanut, Uroš Lajovic, Marko Munih, David de Villiers, Patrick Fournillier, Simon Robinson, En Shao, David Harman, Robert Šervenikas, Keri-Lynn Wilson, Simon Krečič, etc.) and performers (Bojan Gorišek, Milko Lazar, Vasily Meljnikov, Irena Yebuah, Jože Vidic).
Aldo Kumar has written numerous choral compositions, which have become permanent repertoire of the most prominent Slovenian choral ensembles, under the direction of conductors Matjaž Šček, Stojan Kuret, Martina Batič, Ambrož Čopi and many others.
He has written and produced music for numerous feature films, television films and short films (Pod njenim oknom, Lahko noč gospodična, Trst je naš, Aleksandrinke, Adria blues, Dom, Uglaševanje, etc.). His stage music opus is also extensive, including music for more than 80 theater productions and performance projects and involving collaborations with all of the most important theater artists in the Slovenian region (Janez Pipan, Meta Hočevar, Matjaž Zupančič, Diego de Brea, Vito Taufer, Neda Rusjan Bric, Marko Sosič, Mateja Koležnik, Mile Korun, Dušan Jovanovič, etc.).

Aldo Kumar: Tehtanje duš
1       Prolog                                                       
2       O magnum mysterium                       
3       Interludij 1                                              
4       Tehtanje duš (listen!)                            
5       Interludij 2                                              
6       Zvonovi                                                   
7       Kar je že dolgo želel svet                   
8       Eno dete je rojeno                             
9       Interludij 3                                              
10     Poglejte vi ljudje                       

Aldo Kumar, šine (1)
Milko Lazar, organ (1, 3, 5, 9)
Matej Kocen, solo vokal
Lucija Harum, solo vokal
Pritrkovalci iz Šentvida pri Stični (6)

APZ Tone Tomšič Univerze v Ljubljani, conductor Jerica Gregorc Bukovec
Simfonični orkester RTV Slovenija, conductor Simon Krečič