Many Americans are turning to inspirational music in an effort to cope with the tragedies of Sept. 11. And on Saturday, Oct. 6, music lovers will have a chance to hear the inspirational messages of Beethoven, Janacek and local composer Jeffery Price.
"I wish I knew two months ago how wonderful Jeffrey's songs were going to be or how richly poignant this recital was going to be in light of the recent events," University of Utah vocal professor Robert Breault wrote in an e-mail to the Deseret News. "It's truly amazing to me to look at the music, having picked it out months ago."
The concert, at which Breault will be a featured performer, will be presented through the Westminster Concert Series at the Jewett Center for the Performing Arts. Show time is 7:30 p.m., and tickets are $10 for general admission and $5 for students and senior citizens. Westminster students, faculty and staff are admitted free with college ID. For information, call 801-832-2435; for reservations and tickets, call 801-832-2119.
During the concert, Price will premiere a new work, "Stundenbuchlieder," whose text is drawn from Rilke's "The Book of Hours."
"I certainly think that the texts of the Rilke that we're working with are very moving and very spiritual texts," Price told the Deseret News.
"On the night (Sept. 11) that the tragedy happened, Bob (Breault) mailed out one of the texts to all of his students — all 60 of his students at the university, and it ended up being read by the students at a lot of memorial services," he said. "I don't know quite how to describe these poems. They're deeply spiritual poems, which is the thing that first drew me to them."
Price said that he had wanted for some time to write a song cycle specifically for Breault. When he saw this set of Rilke poems, he was struck by them and thought they might be the material for the cycle.
"It was really a privilege to write specifically for his voice," Price said. "I know that he's going to go deeply into a text and really understand it from the inside out before he sings it."
Price pointed out that the Janacek number is also a remarkable piece for this time. It's called "The Diary of the One Who Vanished."
"Although on one level," he said, "it's a story of a young Bohemian man who falls in love with a gypsy girl, the text there explores extremely well the cultural prohibition against interchanges of this sort between Czechs and gypsies — exploring both ethnic hatred and love across the lines of ethnic hatred."
E-mail: rcline@desnews.com