Adam Silverman: Elegy for the Earth The Jenesais Choir & Mitos Andaya Hart

• Adam Silverman (b. 1973): Elegy for the Earth:
• 1 Silverman: Elegy for the Earth: I. Migration of Millions 03:57
• 2 Silverman: Elegy for the Earth: II. The Koch Foundation 02:55
• 3 Silverman: Elegy for the Earth: III. Whale Song 01:35
• 4 Silverman: Elegy for the Earth: IV. Bee Death 01:47
• 5 Silverman: Elegy for the Earth: V. Fire Water/Fracking 01:32
• 6 Silverman: Elegy for the Earth: VI. The New Doldrums 04:05
• 7 Silverman: Elegy for the Earth: VII. Anthropocene 02:21
• 8 Silverman: Elegy for the Earth: VIII. Of Fossil Fuels 03:21
• 9 Silverman: Elegy for the Earth: IX. World On Fire 02:50
• Total Runtime 24:23

Info zu Adam Silverman: Elegy for the Earth

Adam Silverman's choral work Elegy for the Earth, sets biting texts by Susan Gubernat on pertinent social issues ranging from migration, the donor class, species extinction, and unsustainable energy practices. The work is a clarion call to action and awareness, given a powerful performance by The Jenesais Choir, conducted by Mitos Andaya Hart.

Adam Silverman's choral setting of texts by Susan Gubernat, Elegy for the Earth, tackles a suite of ramifications of climate change through direct, expressive music. Silverman's harmonic palette is grounded in extended tonal and polytonal structures, and he uses vocal effects with restraint for word painting and setting. The result is a work that is both substantial and economical, powerful and restrained, with nine movements that rise to the import of their topic without overstating their case.

“Migration of Millions” opens with an unsettling cacophony of spoken voices that captures the disorientation of being stateless. The sung chorus enters on a homophonic line, with some voices holding one pitch as others ascend, and as the movement evolves, the voicing varies while the choir mostly sings in rhythmic unison. Silverman uses the aleatoric spoken material from the introduction as an interstitial reprise. Gubernat’s text narrates the perilous plight of the migrant, choosing uncertainty and upheaval over an unbearable status quo.

“The Koch Foundation” skewers the unsavory relationship between arts philanthropy and problematic corporate interests, specifically addressing issues surrounding climate change. Silverman’s setting is somber and pointed, opening with a hummed chorale that leads into a minor mode dirge that highlights the disheartening connections between exclusive donor perks at Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater and the damaging consequences of the Koch organization’s environmental policies.

The Jenesais Choir
Mitos Andaya Hart, conductor

Adam Silverman
Professor of music composition and theory at West Chester University, Adam Silverman (b. 1973, Atlanta, GA) is a composer of music for concert performance. Many of his works have entered the standard canon of percussion ensemble literature, including the quartets “Quick Blood,” “The Cruel Waters” and “Spiderweb Lead,” the octet “Sparklefrog,” and sextet “Naked And On Fire.” In the past decade, his work composing for wind symphony has produced several works for percussion soli with wind ensembles, starting with the widely-performed marimba concerto “Carbon Paper and Nitrogen Ink” and including works with drum kit soloist (“Zipzap”), a double concerto for two percussionists (“The Rule of Five”) and “Speaking Truth To Power, 2018” for four percussionists and wind band. His other works for winds include “Alien Robots Unite!,” “Raining Bricks,” “Hard Knocks,” and the saxophone concerto “Alternating Current,” which was premiered with Timothy McAllister as soloist. In addition to these works for percussion and wind ensemble, Silverman’s catalog also includes works for chamber ensemble, orchestra, and opera, and have been performed worldwide by such ensembles as The New York City Opera, The Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, The Opera Company of Brooklyn, Eighth Blackbird, The Corigliano Quartet, and The Prism Quartet. He also composed the score for “Little Fiel,” which blends stop-motion animation with filmed documentary; in 2018, this film had 50 screenings in 15 countries, winning many awards including Best Original Music at the Oregon Documentary Film Festival.

Four full-CD recordings of Silverman’s music are available and individual compositions of his have also appeared on CDs by the Temple University Wind Symphony, Prism Saxophone Quartet, cellist Amy Sue Barston, Trio Kavak, The Florida State University Percussion Ensemble, and others, all of which are widely available online.

Educated at Yale (Doctor of Musical Arts, 2003), The Vienna Musikhochschule (1994-1995), The University of Miami (Bachelor of Music, 1995) and in private study with microtonal composer Ben Johnston, Silverman is now an Old-Time music enthusiast, performing as an amateur on banjo, fiddle and mandolin.

Booklet für Adam Silverman: Elegy for the Earth