Rising – Kõrvits, Hymns to the Western Coast

Tõnu Kõrvits – Hymns to the Western Coast

Sunrise, Friday April 10

Tere Hommikust!

Week 4 of Rising w/ comes to a close as we cap a week of collaborating: first the International Contemporary Ensemble, then Quicksilver, and here, PRISM. We love to collaborate, and our work with PRISM exemplifies those unities at their best. The fusion of saxes and voices may not seem logical – or even sensible – on paper, but it is an organic, magical amalgam.

In Hymns from the Western Coast, Tõnu Kõrvits uses simple Estonian folk songs as a platform for a kind of Color Fest that marries the winds of saxes with the winds of voices, all relying on breath to form a kaleidoscope of darks, brights, angles, and curves. In movements 4 and 5, today's Rising w/, we go on a journey from night to day and from calmness to exhilaration. We love to sing it because that journey is not just wildly varied emotionally, it's a roller coaster of timbre and luminosity.

Hurl us into the weekend, Tõnu, with thanks! We love to collaborate!

Love.
And wellness.

– The Whole Team @ The CrossingWe'll be back Monday.

Hymns from the Western Coast
IV. Nu hafwer denna dag / Now has this day
V. Pris vare Gud som låter oss glada vakna / Praise be to God, who let's us wake up happy

music by Tõnu Kõrvits

words from Estonian folk songs, translated into Swedish

recorded live in concert July 14, 2014
at the Icebox Project Space at CraneArts

with PRISM Quartet

audio by Paul Vazquez of Digital Mission Audio Services

video art by Paul du Coudray

* * *

4. Nu hafwer denna dag.

Nu hafwer denna dag
Alltefter Guds behag
Sin ände äfwen nått
Och natten, sömnens vän
Har nu för oss igen
I ljusets rum uppstått.

O store Herre Gud
Vars röst och stränga bud
Allt lyda måste här!
Du skapte dag och natt
När dagen gör mig matt
Mig nattens ro beskär.
O Gud, mig ej försmå...

4. Now has this day

Now has this day,
According to God's will,
Reached its end,
And night, the friend of sleep,
Has now, for us, once more
Appeared in the place of light.

Oh, great Lord God,
Whose voice and severe laws
All must obey here,
You created day and night.
When the day makes me tired
The peace of night soothes me.
Oh God, do not forget me...

5. Pris vare Gud som låter oss glada vakna.

Pris vare Gud, som låter oss glada vakna opp
Och över jorden åter en dag av nåd gå opp
En dag, som skall försvinna lik den i går förgick;
O, må vi då besinna dess dyra ögonblick

5. Praise be to God, who lets us wake up happy

Praise be to God, who lets us wake up happy,
And over the earth another day of grace arises,
A day that will vanish as it did yesterday.
Oh, that we may ponder its precious moment.

April 10, 2020