Naxos to release Cecilia's recording of "The Construction of Boston."
The CD of Composer in Residence Scott Wheeler's opera will be released during 2008. The libretto, as well as program notes from the April 2007 concert performance, are available now.

"Teeters and his classy cast and players offered the first truly satisfying performance I’ve heard... If I ever forget what a superb programmer he's been over his 39 years of directing Boston Cecilia, remind me of this concert."

-Lloyd Schwartz, The Boston Phoenix, Apr. 5, 2007. Read the review!

Introducing New Music: Recent and Right Now, presenting the music of up-and-coming composers, in collaboration with Scott Wheeler. Annual series debuts in June 2008!

The cantata Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt (A Calm Sea and a Prosperous voyage), Beethoven's opus 112, to a text by Goethe, is a mature work composed in 1815, and first performed in Vienna on December 12th of that year. It is a brief work, but a dazzling study in contrasts. The quiet beginning conjures a seascape that is still, tranquil, deathlike even, one of those sublime moments in music when time almost stops--a moment to be savored, prolonged, cherished. But the sailor knows that a sea without breath, benign though its surface, has an ominous dimension. Flaccid sails don't propel, and the surrounding ocean is vast and deep. The first stirrings of change begin at the very bottom of the orchestra and, as if suddenly roused from sleep, Aeolus exhales, the air quickens, the sails billow. Chorus and orchestra shout their rejoicings. Look! there on the horizon: land, home, safety!

- Donald Teeters

The Boston Cecilia performed this work at New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall in Boston on April 13, 1997.

© 2004 Donald Teeters. All rights reserved.

Back to Program Notes page