Life of the Dead

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Description +
- Duration: 7 min.
  
  Life of the Dead is a song cycle in three movements, featuring poems by the late Hanoch Levin (1943-1999), one of Israel's leading dramatists. The music, based on Levin's 1999 book Life of the Dead, was originally written by Amit Poznansky for his debut album by the same name.
  
  I Am A Child In A Circle Of Light (Ani Yeled)
  
  I am a child in a circle of light,
  I shall not be here long,
  just an embrace or two,
  a baby tooth, and I depart.
  
  I am a child in a circle of light,
  passing like the blowing wind,
  leaving a rustle among
  the leaves, a tremor in the heart.
  
  I am a child in a circle of light.
  
  Done Is My Dying (Tamti Ligvoa)
  
  Done is my dying.
  In the night I shall come to you,
  a man, not tall,
  to nestle in your dream.
  
  My love, joy of my life,
  to whom my soul cried out,
  with whose kiss my heart expired -
  dream of me.
  
  Now Is A Wonderful Time (Zo Shaah)
  
  Now is a wonderful time
  of trembling hearts,
  and tremble I would if I could,
  I would whisper and sing in your ears,
  if only I could do those things,
  Now is a wonderful time,
  never was, never shall better be,
  you crouching above me, me lying below
  attentive, unmoving,
  as if in a moment some thing will come,
  unlike any I've known,
  and you will know it,
  and I never will.
Instrumentation +
- Female Choir and Piano
  
  Please fell free to download the following pronunciation tracks of the whole Song Cycle recorded by Tal Gazit Eyal:
  
  Ani Yeled (reading)
  Ani Yeled (spoken text)
  Tamti Ligvoa (spoken text)
  Zo Shaah (spoken text)
Watch+
About the composer +
- Amit Poznansky (1974) is an accomplished composer of film and television scores, music for the theater, poet - songs, concert, chamber, choral and Jazz music. He is also a versatile and experienced arranger / orchestrator in a variety of music genres, and has been working in both live and digital settings.
  
  Cinema: Amit composed the score for Joseph Cedar's academy award nominee for best foreign film "Footnote" (2011), also winner of the Best Screenplay Award at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. The music was performed by the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. In October 2013 Poznansky was honored as the winner for Best Original Score (Feature Film), for "Footnote", at the International Samobor Film Music Festival. Among the jury were: John P. Corigliano, Richard King, Randy Thom, Mark Dornford-May.
  
  In 2011, Poznansky composed the score for Assi Dayan's feature film "Doctor Pomerantz".
  
  TV: In 2012, he scored the second season of the acclaimed Israeli TV series "Hatufim" ("Prisoners of War") directed by Gideon Raff ("Homeland" creator) for the Israeli Channel 2.
  
  Animation, documentaries & stage: In 2013, Amit scored the animated short film "A Soldier's Wings", directed by CREW972 founder Alex Orrelle ("The Incredibles"), and he also composed and arranged the music for W. Shakespeare's play "Macbeth", directed by Omri Nitzan, at the Cameri Theater of Tel Aviv.
  
  In 2013 he composed the score for Ram Loevy's documentary "Let's Assume, For A Moment, That God Exists" (Channel 8), and the documentary "The Ceremony", directed by Avi Weissblei, for YES Docu satelight broadcaster . Both films participated at the Doc-Aviv Film Festival 2013.
  
  Poznansky also scored the animated shorts "Henry Le Cooking" (2009), "The Good Knight Story" (2010) and "Moving Pictures" (2011). "The Good Knight Story" won the prize for Best Short Film at the 2010 Israeli Film Festival held in Nice, France.
  
  Amit's pieces "Waltz for Flute & Piano" and "Life of the Dead - A Song Cycle for Female Choir" were published by Edition Svitzer, and are being performed worldwide.
Credits +
- English translation: Erez and Karine Volk
  Front cover: Gilad Benari
  Front cover and layout: Ronni Kot Wenzell
  Editor: Claus Vestergaard Jensen
  First performance June 19th 2009 by: The Copenhagen Girls' Choir
  www.pigekoret.dk
  Lyrics: Hanoch Levin
  Printed in Copenhagen, Denmark
  Copyright © Edition Svitzer
  www.editionsvitzer.com

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