Forest Ball (Лесной Бал) | by Alla Borzova

Wednesday, April 10, 2024, 7:00 PM
MIRRORS: Featuring Mirror 2 Mirror
Church of the Transfiguration "Little Church Around the Corner"
1 E. 29th Street, New York, New York
Alla Borzova - Forest Ball (Лесной Бал) †
(0:06) 1. Forest Ball (Лесной Бал)
(2:06) 2. Bear Cub's Sweet Dreams (Сладкий Медвежий Сон)
(4:50) 3. The Wondrous Cat (Удивительный Кот)
(6:28) 4. The Firefly Lamplighter for the City of Ants (Муравьиный Фонарщик)
(9:25) 5. Everything Looks Like Something Else (Что На Что Похоже)
- Alla Borzova, soprano; Markus Kaitila, piano
† US Premiere
Forest Ball is one of Alla Borzova’s early opuses, written when she was 15 y.o. It was inspired by a small book with charming fairy-tale-like poems and beautiful illustrations by the famous children’s book artist Viktor Chizhikov.
You can enjoy the book here: v-chizhikov.li...
The characters of these poems are insects, animals, inhabitants of the sea, and other creatures of nature, who behave like people. The first song, Forest Ball, talks about a ball in the forest where Prince-grasshopper dances with Cinderella-cloudberry; the second song, Bear Cub's Sweet Dream, is a lullaby, in which a little bear cub sleeps and dreams sweet dreams; the third song, The Wondrous Cat, is about a cat who lives at the bottom of the ocean; the fourth song, The Firefly Lighter for the City of Ants, a lullaby again, is about a city of ants which rests after a hard work day, except for one ant who lights the fireflies and checks the locks on the doors to protect the city from owls and other enemies; the last fifth song, Everything Looks Like Something Else, is about the poet who observes the world around him, noticing that everything looks like something else: spruce-tree looks like a penguin, two mountains-like two humps of a sleeping camel, clouds-like bear cubs, open book-like a butterfly, a street lantern-like a lily of the valley.
The cycle was premiered in the Big Hall of the Belarusian Philharmonic with the composer at the piano, followed by performances in many concert halls in Belarus and Russia. This performance marks the U.S. premiere. It is also the first time the composer sings this cycle herself.
Links:
www.nycomposer...
www.nycomposer...
www.albanyreco...

[@sharonsterling2576]

What a beautiful setting for your lovely voice.

[@sharonsterling2576]

The dance and arms adds to the magic! Bravo!

[@alexanderdmitriev2698]

What a wonderful performance of this fairytale cycle!

[@allaborzova]

Thank you, happy you enjoyed it!