Located in the UK
Located in the USA
Located in Europe
- Karen Tanaka
Guardian Angel (2000)
- Chester Music Ltd (World)
Commissioned by Music for Japan for its 25th Anniversary Orchestral Concert
- 0010/0000/3perc/hp/str(12.10.8.6.4[5 string db])
- 11 min
Programme Note
The title 'Guardian Angel' was inspired by a passage from the Old Testament Book of Exodus (23:20) as follows.
Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way...
An image of angels, fragile and surrounded by beautiful illuminations, appeared in my mind, overlapping between Biblical times and our present time. My intention was to realise my image of angels with sounds, sent to guard us along the way.
© Karen Tanaka
Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way...
An image of angels, fragile and surrounded by beautiful illuminations, appeared in my mind, overlapping between Biblical times and our present time. My intention was to realise my image of angels with sounds, sent to guard us along the way.
© Karen Tanaka
Scores
Reviews
At about 8:10 on the night of July 16, the sky above the Hollywood bowl was dappled with small puffs of cloud, turned a soft pink in the rays of the setting sun. At the same moment, the sound came off the stage in similar puffs of string tone, dappled with flashes of audible light (also pink, if you wanted it to be) from a solo harp: a small piece called Guardian Angel by Karen Tanaka. This was music of great charm if no great consequence, but the coincidence of sight and sound turned into one of those moments – rare, alas – when music at the Bowl becomes like nothing else on Earth.
26th July 2002
The first part of this evening was less surprising. It began promisingly with Karen Tanaka's gently striking "Guardian Angel", an 11-minute meditation scored for an ethereal combination of strings, clarinet, percussion and harp.
18th July 2002