Sarah Slean's premiere performance of Lamento by Christos Hatzis is the latest classical video to be released on CBC Music — a true meeting of minds between an incredibly talented pop diva and a very broad-thinking classical composer. Commissioned by the CBC, it was recorded last April with Symphony Nova Scotia conducted by Bernhard Gueller.
Lamento tells the story of a woman who, mourning a dead lover, is overcome by her sadness and takes her own life. The music was inspired by an article Alex Ross wrote about the lament bass — a repeated descending bass line that backs up a soaring melody — found in rock classics like "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin and "Hotel California" by the Eagles, as well as older works like When I am Laid in Earth from Henry Purcell's opera Dido and Aeneas (which Hatzis actually quotes in his work).
Hatzis's Lamento comprises three movements; the texts were written by the composer.
First movement: When This is Over
Second movement: My Song
Third movement: Despair
This was Slean's debut performance with Symphony Nova Scotia, which also featured Hatzis’s imaginative, dense and exhilarating arrangement of one of Slean's own tunes, "Parasol."
Related:
Sarah Slean performs with Symphony Nova Scotia [audio podcast]
Up Close: Sarah Slean
Letter to my teacher: Sarah Slean
Words and Music: Zoe Whittall and Sarah Slean
Royal Wood with special guest Sarah Slean
posted by
Jeff Reilly
on Feb 11, 2013