British composer Francis Pott (born 1957) wrote his oratorio, The Cloud of Unknowing, for the 25th anniversary of the Vasari Singers in 2007. Pott uses a variety of sources for his texts, including Psalms, the Revelation of John, the Prophets, William Blake, Thomas Traherne, the fourteenth century tract "The Cloud of Unknowing," and the work of several twentieth century poets. The work is unified by its focus on the universality of human suffering. Pott writes that the impetus for the work came from the numerous acts of ...
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British composer Francis Pott (born 1957) wrote his oratorio, The Cloud of Unknowing, for the 25th anniversary of the Vasari Singers in 2007. Pott uses a variety of sources for his texts, including Psalms, the Revelation of John, the Prophets, William Blake, Thomas Traherne, the fourteenth century tract "The Cloud of Unknowing," and the work of several twentieth century poets. The work is unified by its focus on the universality of human suffering. Pott writes that the impetus for the work came from the numerous acts of international violence that dominated the news since the turn of the millennium. Scored for tenor soloist, chorus, and organ, the oratorio's mood of darkness is leavened by moments of repose, as in the setting of Psalm 23, and the work's tranquil, elegiac conclusion. Pott writes very much in the tradition and tonal language of the English cathedral composers of the early twentieth century. Although he uses conventional musical materials, his music is rarely merely imitative, and while,...
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