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Programme Note

FOUR LATIN MOTETS (1991) - for mixed choir

1 Ne obsurdescas mihi (SSA/SAT),
2 Ad te Domine clamabo (SSATB),
3 Quam dilecta tabernacula tua (SSA/SAT),
4 Exultavit in Deum (SSATB),

All four motets are based on the first motets´ simple, pentatonic initial motif. Like the polarities of the hymn texts between lamentation and jubilation, the motif appears in various disguises, from a gloomy Japanese (death-) mode (first and second motet) to the lighter, celebratory forms in the familiar Chinese pentatonic scale and the Indonesian “pelog” scale (third and fourth motet). The mood-creating scales weave (like the text sections) in and out of each other,; just a few changes in notes change grief to joy, from idyll to catastrophe.
The latin version of the motets (originally with Danish text, 1991) was made in 1998 by Per Nørgård and Ivan Hansen.

Ivan Hansen