Birds and Chorals (2023)

Birds and Chorals is a commission from the American organ player James D. Hicks. He wanted me to write a piece with bird songs of birds located in the Faroe Islands. I decided to use songs from the Eurasian oyster catcher, house sparrow, and Faroese starling.

A motif I’m working with these years is the connection between decreasing and increasing intervals and the rhythmic values, which is very present in this piece. I also re-use a melodic strophe from a piece for choir called Tell Me, Why the World is Pretty.

Sunleif Rasmussen, 2023