Composed as a tribute to Billie Holiday, this choral fresco features texts by the poet Langston Hughes, a champion of the Harlem Renaissance movement of the 1930s, following a previously unpublished introduction that I conceived as a variation for choir on the text of the song Strange Fruit, immortalised by the singer.
Recordings, audio excerpts: CD ‘Psalm’, September 2004, Naïve V 4999, & Label Inconnu (complete cycle). Jeune chœur et Cris de Paris, conducted by Laurence Equilbey and Geoffroy Jourdain.
The CD ” Bac 2013-2014 ” Label Inconnu LI 12-1001, includes the same recording.
Book-CD ” Outre-Chœur …”, ensemble Territoires du souffle, ed. B. Doucey 2016 (extract : Afraid, Homesick blues), with the ensemble Territoires du souffle.
Difficulty rating: medium to difficult according to parts
Langston Hughes
English (USA)
Texts collected and put in booklet by the composer.
Strange Fruit is a song by Abel Meeropol
Mixed choir divided into six parts, S, MS, A, T, Bt, B, with soloists
Duration :15 mins approx.
Cycle in 6 linked parts preceded by an introduction : Variation on Strange fruit, 1. Brass spittoon, 2. Puzzled, 3. Afraid, 4. Homesick blues, 5. Daybreak in Alabama, 6. Dream variation