Springs and Summers

Kasia Glowicka [ music ]
James Laing [ voice ]
Chordos String Quartet [ strings ]
Emmanuel Flores [ visual design ]

Composer Kasia Glowicka brings a modern interpretation of The Shakespeare's Sonnets in an original musical performance where the ancient combines with modern music, trends and technology. Taking inspiration from John Dowlnad's gentle melodic lines, Glowicka matches this with original eclectic pulses in the string quartet together with crystal rhythmical motives using electronic counterpoints. The voice of the contratenors very high male tessitura gives the compositions a unique serenity of non-vibrato lines. Shakespeare's Sonnets, published for the first time in 1609 were unmatched in its time as the perfection of the sonnet expressing itself on themes of love, beauty and morals with a strong sense of drama and passion inherent in Shakespeare's words. From this collection three poems were chosen in 1999 and set to music by Glowicka. To this set four more poems have been selected in 2009 to complete a 50-minute song cycle.

The original three-poem compositions from 1999 known as "Summer's day" (ISCM Polish section award 2000) were premiered by the distinguished British countertenor Jonathan Peter Kenny and Camerata Quartet. The four new compositions are being commissioned by the "Foundation 4.99" with support of Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the CD recording has been made possible with support of Nederland Fonds Voor Podiumkunsten. This final set of vocal works in combination with string quartets will bring modern interpretation to the timeless text of the Shakespeare,s Sonnets and combine the idioms of early music with modern techniques. Combining melodic lines that reminisce of the harmony and melody of the past while treating the musical material with contemporary modern trends and adding a new exciting dimension of XXI-century technology - real-time electronics.