Geerdeter Hoffnungsschimmer (Grounded Glimmer of Hope) (2017)

Burkhard Mohr (b. 1955) — Geerdeter Hoffnungsschimmer (Grounded Glimmer of Hope) (2017) for organ

“Geerdeter Hoffnungsschimmer (Grounded Glimmer of Hope)” (2017) explores a contrast between two different sound elements: a “grounded” dark full sound, and a quieter, brighter color. The piece develops from the interaction of these two elements, building in the middle to an active climax. Throughout the music occur phrases of the popular French religious song “Noël nouvelet,” which is sung throughout the world with different sets of words for both the Christmas and Easter seasons.

German composer Burkhard Mohr (b. 1955) was born in Gamsbach/Oberhessen and was educated in Frankfurt where he studied music and theology. He also attended the Darmstadt new music courses with Stockhausen, Kagel, Ligeti, and Xenakis. He has worked as a church musician in Frankfurt-Höchst and Wiesbaden and also taught music for many years at the technical university in Frankfurt. Mohr has composed numerous musical works in many genres, including several operas and orchestral works along with much chamber music and music for choir and organ. Mohr’s music usually concerns itself with the blurry boundaries and connections between atonal (12-tone) and tonal (triadic) materials and with the unexpected (or traditionally extended) formal designs that can result from teasing out these connections.