English – Page 2 – Reena Esmail

This Love Between Us, mmt 5 (soprano/tenor/piano version)

Program Notes This song for soprano, tenor and piano and violin was originally the fifth movement of my oratorio, eponymously titled This Love Between Us. The text comes from a variety of translations of ancient saint-poet Kabir’s writings, and from the Isa Upanishad. The original version starts and ends with the same duets between solo … Read more

Malhaar: A Requiem for Water

Program Notes In Hindustani music, Malhaar(p/d) refers to a family of raags that beckon rain. As the legend goes, the greatest musicians could cause a downpour from even the most severely parched skies by the power of their song. This is the inspiration for Malhaar: A Requiem for Water. As drought worsened in Southern California, … Read more

Say Your Name

Program Notes ‘Say Your Name,’ a voting-rights cantata composed by Reena Esmail and written by Rebecca Gayle Howell. Here is the resilient story of a woman named Democracy, a woman battered by gaslighting and confusion. As she finds the courage to remember who she is, she learns what we all must: that to guard our … Read more

A Winter Breviary

Program Notes I. We Look for You (Evensong – Raag Hamsadhwani)II. The Year’s Midnight (Matins – Raag Malkauns)III. The Unexpected Early Hour (Lauds – Raag Ahir Bhairav) This set of three carols, on new texts by poet Rebecca Gayle Howell, traces a journey through the solstice, the longest night of the year. The texts follow … Read more

Take What You Need

You have reached the main landing page for Take What You Need. For specific versions, see the sidebar of this page. Take What You Need is more than just a piece of music. It is a warm, safe, equitable space, where musicians and community can connect with one another, where stories can come forward, and … Read more

Listen

Program Notes When I worked with Urban Voices Project, a choir on Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles, I met a man named Brian Palmer. He used to say, “One act of love, I know for sure, is to listen.” We lost Brian a few years later, suddenly and unexpectedly. And as I struggled to … Read more

She Will Transform You (SATB + flute)

Program Notes She Will Transform You is centered around a beautiful poem of Indian-American author Neelanjana Banerjee. She speaks about the beautiful relationship of an immigrant and her child to their country of origin, and the significant role a child from both cultures has in bridging the divide between them. As a child of immigrants, I have felt both that distance … Read more

The History Of Red (chamber orchestra version)

Program Notes The first time I heard Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, it changed my life. I was fourteen years old, and as I sat under the stars at the beautiful Ford Theater on a summer night in in Los Angeles with my parents, I completely identified with the voice of the child who … Read more

This Love Between Us, mmt 5 (Trio Version)

Program Notes This song for soprano/mezzo, piano and violin was originally the fifth movement of my oratorio, eponymously titled This Love Between Us. The text comes from a variety of translations of ancient saint-poet Kabir’s writings, and from the Isa Upanishad. The original version starts and ends with a duet. The violin line was originally … Read more

When the Guitar

Program Notes As a companion piece to Victoria’s O Vos Omnes, I chose to set a beautiful text by the 14C Persian poet Hafiz. The text of O Vos Omnes is asking, simply, to be seen in a moment of sorrow — to be beheld through suffering and darkness. And Hafiz’s text responds in such a beautiful way … Read more