Oratorio ‘Requiem for the Fallen’

Piano Concerto ‘Imagine New york’

Alto Saxophone Concerto ‘Springtime in Chicago’

Cantata ‘Carmina pro Amore Mundi’

Piano Concerto for the Left Hand ‘between Peace and War’

Concerto for Piano & band ’destination West’

***

These works all share a message of hope

When I rode my bicycle through the crosses of Flanders’ World War One cemeteries, as a Belgian teenager, I was thinking of the poem ‘In Flanders Fields’ written during the first World War by the military Doctor, John McCrae.

Decades later, with these memories still on my mind, and having witnessed the Cold War, I understood the anguish of my parents and the need for hope. I composed ‘Requiem for the Fallen’ a vast oratorio for soprano, choir and orchestra based on ‘In Flanders Fields’. It became a tribute to the victims of wars and violence.

The first version of ‘Requiem’ was played in 2018 in a French town for the Centennial of WWI. Most players of the town youth orchestra had a relative who fought in the war. The same year, the first version of ‘Destination West’, the uplifting Fantaisie concertante for piano & band evoking the completion at Promontory Point, Utah, of the intercontinental railroad in 1869, also premiered in France. . *** In 2019, the revised version of ‘Requiem for the Fallen’ premiered in New York at Carnegie Hall (Zankel Hall) and was attended by the Consul of Belgium. Two performances then took place in Moscow: in 2020, the U.S. Embassy underwrote a concert to commemorate the cooperation in WWII; and, in late 2021, a public concert for peace took place downtown. Afterwards, guests waved ‘heart’ and ‘I love you’ signs to us, watching from Washington. Leaning towards the screen, an Orthodox Bishop pointed to the golden cross on his chest and said that the Oratorio was ‘Music for Peace’. Clearly, the Russian public opposed the war but, ten weeks later, Ukraine was invaded. A war that, now in its fifth year, costs over a million lives.

‘Imagine New York’, the first piano concerto, opened the 2021 concert for peace. The Concerto evokes the view from the sky of New York’s Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. . *** Over the recent years leaders have led larger and larger part of the World population to slide away from mutual respect and to embrace violence. With this in mind, in contrast to ‘Requiem for the Fallen’, I composed the cantata ‘Carmina pro Amore Mundi’ for soprano, tenor, choir SATB, percussion & orchestra.

Another work is the left-hand piano concerto ‘Between Peace and War’ about Mankind’s constant vacillation between violence and respect and, by contrast, the uplifting Concerto for piano and symphonic band ‘Destination West’. . *** In conclusion, as a pause and a reflection on the need for simplicity, here is a fable from Persia that appeared in Europe in the 18th century:

. A HAPPY MAN’S SHIRT Once upon a time, lived a son of the great king Haroun Al Rashid, who was not happy. He went on to consult an old derviche. The old man told him that happiness was hard to find in the world. “However, he added, I know a foolproof way to get it.” — What is it? asked the prince. — It is, replied the wise man, to wear the shirt of a happy man. Marveling at finding hat the cure to his ailment was so simple, the prince kissed the old man’s hands, covered him with gifts, and off he went in search of happiness. He visited all the kingdoms of the Earth, tried on shirts of kings, of princes, of ministers: it did not make him any happier. Then he tried shirts of generals, scientists, artists and merchants, but to no avail. Finally, saddened to have tried so many shirts, he went back to the castle of his father, when he saw, on the side of the road, a farmer happily pushing a hoe and tilling the ground. The birds were singing around him, he was whistling, and so much so that one could not tell who was in the sky from who was laboring in the field. “But there is a man who found happiness”, exclaimed the prince. — Are you happy? — Yes. — You do not want anything? — No. — You would not give up your hoe for all the kingdoms of the Earth? — No. — Then, sell me your shirt. — My shirt? I have none. . ***

Videos of the Oratorio ‘Requiem for the Fallen’, the Piano Concerto ‘Imagine New York’ and other works are posted at under VIDEOS. Since 2023, pandemic and wars have prevented additional events.

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our places; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
in Flanders Fields.

by: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae
MD (1872 – 1918)
Canadian Army