performed by Tonality; Tram Sparks, conductor
NOTE: There are two versions of Even After All This Time — this one is without clarinet. See sidebar for version with clarinet obbligato.
Program Notes
Even After All This Time… takes its text from a beautiful quote by 14th century Persian poet, Hafiz, in a translation by Daniel Ladinsky. The text of the piece is simply:
Even after all this time,
the sun never says to the earth,
“You owe me.”
Look what happens
with a love like that:
it lights the whole sky.
Ladinsky’s texts are not direct translations — rather, they are interpretations for a modern, English-speaking readership. And yet, the original Persian text is so beautiful. For this reason, I worked with a Persian language scholar to infuse the setting of this text with some of the original language.*
This work was written for the wedding of choral conductor Lindsay Pope. Lindsay was the commissioner of Tuttarana, as well as the author of an award-winning dissertation on my choral work. She has truly shaped my choral writing in a unique way. Setting this text was both a celebration of her marriage, as well as a way to honor the deep and generative collaboration we have built over the years.
*Note: Please see back inside cover for pronunciation guides, as well as a link to audio guides. Thank you to Andrea Zomorodian for her help with the Farsi translation and transliteration in this piece.
Recording
See video at top of page
Text
Even after all this time,
the sun never says to the earth,
“You owe me.”
Look what happens
with a love like that:
it lights the whole sky.”
— Daniel Ladinsky
Audio Guides
Here are audio guides to help non-native speakers with the Farsi pronunciation (see back page of score for details:
audio examples recorded by Andrea Zomorodian
Performances
This version was premiered by Tonality on March 24, 2017 St. John’s Episcopal Church.
** If you would like to read Lindsay Pope’s dissertation, please Contact Us. This dissertation was the recipient of the 2019 Herford Prize from the American Choral Directors Association