• 2.2.2.2/2.2.1.0/perc/hp/str(6.6.4.4.2)
  • 16 min

Programme Note

Commissioned by the Arctic Chamber Orchestra.

The Far Country of Sleep was composed in memory of the late Morton Feldman. Although he was an unrepentant urbanite, Feldman's music is, for me, haunted by the idea of the sublime landscape, imaginary or real. The title of this homage to him is borrowed from a poem by John Haines. It evokes in my mind both the distant dreamscapes of the Arctic and that ultimate wilderness, through which we all must pass.

The score is inscribed with a line from Alexander Pope, which Feldman once recited to me:

Art after Art goes out,
and all is night....

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Reviews

“…a ravishingly beautiful landscape…”
Alan Ulrich, San Francisco Examiner
“…wondrous soundscapes of place and the imagination. I can’t remember when a new piece of music has been as thought-provoking as The Far Country of Sleep.”
Marilyn Tucker, The San Francisco Chronicle

Discography

The Far Country

The Far Country
  • Label
    New Albion
  • Catalogue Number
    NA061
  • Conductor
    Kevin Culver / Joann Falletta
  • Ensemble
    The Atlanta Singers / The Cabrillo Festival Orchestra
  • Soloist
    Barbara Chapman, Harp; Nella Rigel, Harp; Michael Cebulski, Percussion; Cheryl Bray Lower, Soprano
  • Released
    15th October 1998