Gerald Cohen’s choral piece “The ocean of peace lies ahead of me” has been published by G. Schirmer/AMP as part of the Harold Rosenbaum Schirmer Choral Series.
Composer’s note:
“The ocean of peace lies ahead of me” is of one of the final poems of the great Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)—a poem that was sung, at his request, at his funeral. My setting of the poem (in the beautiful translation of Krishna Dutta and Andrew Robinson) is the final movement of my larger choral composition “An Undaunted Heart: Songs of Elders.” The composition, which explores aging and elders through the poetry of several cultures, was commissioned by the Westchester Prize for New Works, and written for the New York Virtuoso Singers, Harold Rosenbaum, conductor.
In the “The ocean of peace lies ahead of me,” Tagore, approaching the end of his life, speaks--as in many of his writings--of the connection between our human lives and the larger mysteries of the cosmos. He looks at life and death serenely but also with passion and courage, as he asks that “with an undaunted heart/May I come to know the Great Unknown.” In this piece, I hope to convey both the serenity and passion of Tagore’s words.
To go to the Schirmer/Hal Leonard website for this piece, or to purchase copies, please click here.
