Music composition by Ritz Rakotomalala for SATB a cappella choir upon Emily Dickinson's poem
This sheet music is based on a poem by Emily Dickinson which depicts the very first beauty steps of a woman when she awakes. Those are delicate, soft and harmonious gestures, meant to face the brutal and vigorous world. The aim of this piece is to depict those gestures by music.
About the composer :
Born in November 1981 in Madagascar, Ritz Rakotomalala comes from a family of musicians and academics. Trained as a pianist, he is also a composer and arranger. He trained as a choral conductor with Didier Bouture, Sofi Jeanin and Bernard-Roland Thomas, and as a composer with Thierry Machuel and David Lampel. He is the founder and artistic director of numerous other choirs and vocal ensembles in France and England, including Les Gentilshommes and Synopsis choir.
Over and above the traditional imperatives of choral work (accuracy, homogeneity, dynamics, etc.), he is very attached to the literary and theatrical dimension of a score. He attaches particular importance to the singers' understanding of the construction of a work, not just in terms of solfeggio, but above all in terms of symbolism. He stated that "the interpretation of a choral work is only fully successful when it captures Man in all his sensitivity, that is to say, when the singer gains enough humility to understand what he is singing, so as to better convey it".
