Sean Shepherd (1979-)
On a Clear Day, oratorio en 2 parties pour violoncelle, chœurs et grand orchestre, d'après un cycle de poème d'Ulla Hahn

Jon Vogler, violoncelle
Youg Person's Choral Academy
The Young ClassX Ensemble
Solistes du Dresdner Kreuzchor
Alsterpatzen, Chœur des enfants et des jeunes du Hamburg State Opera
The Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra
Kent Nagano, direction

La thématique qui sous-tend le projet de ce disque édité par CAvi-music, label partenaire de Deutsche Grammophon, est celle du lien entre Hambourg, port d’Europe qui voit passer, au tournant du 19ème siècle, plusieurs millions de personnes en quête de liberté et de prospérité économique, et la côte Est des Etats-Unis, terre promise (alors bien plus accueillante qu’aujourd’hui) : Kent Nagano, américain en Allemagne (il grandit entre San Francisco et Los Angeles) et Jan Vogler, allemand en Amérique (il se partage entre Dresde et New York), l’un chef d’orchestre (il dirige le Hamburg State Opera), l’autre violoncelliste (il est le directeur artistique du Dresden Music Festival), tous deux habitués du voyage transatlantique, se rejoignent sur la musique du compositeur new yorkais Sean Shepherd, l’oratorio "An einem Klaren Tag / On a clear day", aux textes pris à la poétesse allemande Ulla Hahn, au chant confié aux jeunes voix allemandes et américaines (une centaine !). L’œuvre est harmonieuse, tonale – ce qui ne dépare pas les sonorités contemporaines entendues (ou créées) aux Etats-Unis. "Auf den meer", à l’effectif plus restreint (piano, violon, violoncelle), donne un deuxième aperçu, original, de l’inspiration de Sean Shepherd. (Bernard Vincken)

Kent Nagano and Jan Vogler, the American in Germany and the German in the United States, perpetually crossing the Atlantic and calling both continents home, embody and live this once so powerful transatlantic ideal in every respect. For they are bound by much more than a deep artistic friendship and their collaborative work. They share—even more comprehensively—a worldview and understanding of life based on the Western, humanistic canon of values that Europeans once carried across the Atlantic to their new world...… "It was precisely this transatlantic idea that drove me when Jan and I developed this project a few years ago," says Kent Nagano. "Hamburg was the link to the New World not just for the people of Hamburg, but for millions of Europeans." This was to be reflected in a musical work capable of carrying this idea into the future. For good reason: for years, the continents have seemingly been drifting apart. The world-renowned conductor does not hide his concern about this development. "It was also important to me to anchor the transatlantic idea in the next generation through children's and youth choirs on both sides of the ocean, who could work together and spend time with each other." he result is the oratorio "An einem klaren Tag – On a Clear Day" for cello, choir, and orchestra. The participants in the project underscore the thematic concern: the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra, texts by the well-known German poet Ulla Hahn set to music by the young American composer Sean Shepherd, who made a name for himself in the United States at a very early age, various youth choirs from Germany and New York, along with the German star cellist Jan Vogler and Nagano as the American conductor of the Hamburg State Opera, who grew up where America is farthest from Europe—in a fishing village on the American West Coast between San Francisco and Los Angeles.