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Release Date: October 23, 2020
Catalog #: NV6313
Format: Digital & Physical
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Mortal Dreams

Four Vocal Works

Sergio Cervetti composer

Uruguayan-born American Sergio Cervetti is sure to please listeners with MORTAL DREAMS, his ninth album with NAVONA. Cervetti, who, on previous releases, has firmly established himself as one of the most unique voices in contemporary serious music, again delivers electro-acoustic compositions that can be counted as some of his best in the genre.

Cervetti may have been born in 1940, but he's certainly composing like never before. His last album, PARALLEL REALMS: XXI Century Works for Orchestra was a Global Music Awards’ Gold Medal Winner only last year. And MORTAL DREAMS is set on a similar path of success.

There are only four works on MORTAL DREAMS, but they are united by the vocals at the center of each piece, as well as by Cervetti's singular approach to composition. Influenced by the art of painting as well as the art of dance, these pieces paradoxically exude both a painstaking attention to detail and a certain effortlessness on a larger scale.

Four Fragments of Isadora (1979) for soprano and piano are based on letters written by the famous American dancer Isadora Duncan to her lover. Cervetti deliberately chose excerpts to reflect not only the dancer's emotional states at the time of writing, but also her life at large: these fragments are, in effect, a compositional biography. Childhood (2007), one of Cervetti's more recent works, also deals with personal drama, even though the subject isn't explicitly named. It is an audible illustration of a mother whose daughter is diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, but whose maternal love shines through the prospect of the heartache and confusion caused by her daughter's condition.

The early minimalist work Madrigal III (1975) rests on a poem written by 15th-century Aztec ruler Netzahualcoyotl. It received rave reviews at the time of its premiere, and it is easy to see why: the way the two sopranos are intertwined in this duo reflects not only the modern zeitgeist, but also the traditional Baroque school of vocal composition.

MORTAL DREAMS powerfully closes with the socio-political monologue That Feeling of Power (2019), a reflection upon the current political situation and a subversive analysis of thinly-veiled hegemony. It's a fitting end to this album: after all, Cervetti himself never shied away from being unconventional in musical or social matters. And considering his track record, he is not likely to start.

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Track Listing & Credits

# Title Composer Performer
01 4 Fragments of Isadora: No. 1, Desire Sergio Cervetti Cara Latham, soprano; Charles Abramovic, piano 6:40
02 4 Fragments of Isadora: No. 2, Illness Sergio Cervetti Cara Latham, soprano; Charles Abramovic, piano 5:46
03 4 Fragments of Isadora: No. 3, Death of the Children Sergio Cervetti Cara Latham, soprano; Charles Abramovic, piano 4:44
04 4 Fragments of Isadora: No. 4, Farewell Sergio Cervetti Cara Latham, soprano; Charles Abramovic, piano 5:02
05 Childhood Sergio Cervetti Elizabeth Esris, lyrics; Julianne Borg, soprano; Electronic track created, engineered, and performed by Sergio Cervetti 5:04
06 Madrigal III Sergio Cervetti Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra | Petr Vronský, conductor; Alena Hellerová, Eva Benett (née Kolková) - sopranos 20:04
07 That Feeling of Power Sergio Cervetti Electronic track created, engineered, and performed by Sergio Cervetti 5:51

MADRIGAL III (1975)
Nezahualcoyotl, text

All works copyright © Sergio Cervetti Music. www.sergiocervetti.com
Program notes by KPR, April 2020

TRACKS 1-4
Recorded June 14, 2019 at MorningStar Studios in East Norriton PA; Engineer Glenn Barratt

TRACK 5
Recorded August 14, 2007 at Sean Swinney Studio in New York NY; Engineer Sean Swinney

TRACK 6
Recorded September 12, 2010 at Reduta Hall in Olomouc, Czech Republic
Session Producer Richard Mlynár
Session Engineer Zdeněk Slavotínek

TRACK 7
Created, engineered, and performed by Sergio Cervetti at composer’s studio in Doylestown PA

Executive Producer Bob Lord

Executive A&R Sam Renshaw
A&R Director Brandon MacNeil

VP, Audio Production Jeff LeRoy
Audio Director Lucas Paquette

VP, Design & Marketing Brett Picknell
Art Director Ryan Harrison
Design Edward A. Fleming
Publicity Patrick Niland, Sara Warner

Artist Information

Sergio Cervetti

Composer

Sergio Cervetti left his native Uruguay in 1962 to study composition in the United States. In 1966 he attracted international attention when he won the chamber music prize at the Caracas, Venezuela Music Festival. After studying with Ernst Krenek and Stefan Grové and graduating from Peabody Conservatory, he was subsequently invited to be Composer-in-Residence in Berlin, Germany in 1969-70.

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Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra

Orchestra

The Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the foremost and oldest symphony orchestras in the Czech Republic. It is based in the historical capital of Moravia, the city of Olomouc, and has been a leader of music activities in the region for the past 70 years. Its artistic development was directly influenced by distinguished figures from the Czech and international music scene.

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Petr Vronský

Conductor

After successes in several important international competitions for conductors — including the competition in Besancon France in 1971 and the Karajan Competition in Berlin in 1973 — his career began at the opera company in Pilsen. From 1974 to 1978, he was Chief of Opera of the State Theater in Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic. In 1978, he was appointed Chief Conductor of the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra, a position he held until 1991. Vronsky was later appointed Chief Conductor of the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra Ostrava in 2002.

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Elizabeth Esris

Elizabeth Esris

Librettist

ELIZABETH ESRIS collaborated as librettist with Sergio Cervetti on Elegy For A Prince. She adapted the libretto from Oscar Wilde’s fairy tale, The Happy Prince, adding influences from Wilde’s De Profundis as well as original material to create a fanciful but mature story that echoes the marginalization of outsiders in today’s world.

The opera was selected in a competition sponsored by New York City Opera and featured in its VOX Opera Showcase in 2007. Two scenes from Elegy For A Prince were also performed at Carnegie Hall’s Perpetual Light Concert in February 2020. She and Cervetti collaborated again on YUM!, a chamber opera that plays upon motifs of wine, cooking, and friendship. Childhood is from a collaborative work-in-progress with Cervetti that explores autism. An English and creative writing teacher for more than 23 years, her poems have appeared in journals including The Schuylkill Valley Journal, River Heron Review, Pearl Buck Literary Journal and in France Revisited, where several of her travel articles appear. Now retired from teaching, Esris lives and writes in Bucks County PA, where she shares her work in poetry readings and writing workshops.

Charles Abramovic

Charles Abramovic

Piano

CHARLES ABRAMOVIC is Chair of Keyboard Studies at Temple University’s Boyer College of Music in Philadelphia, where he has taught since 1988. Abramovic has performed often with such stellar artists as Midori, Sarah Chang, Robert McDuffie, Viktoria Mullova, Kim Kashkashian, Mimi Stillman, and Jeffrey Khaner.

His recording of the solo piano works of Delius for DTR recordings has been widely praised. He has recorded for EMI Classics with violinist Sarah Chang, and Avie Recordings with Philadelphia Orchestra principal flutist Jeffrey Khaner. He has also recorded works of Milton Babbitt, Joseph Schwantner, Gunther Schuller and many other contemporary composers for Albany Records, CRI, Bridge, Avie, and Naxos. An active participant in the musical life of Philadelphia, he performs regularly with Network for New Music, Orchestra 2001, and the Dolce Suono Ensemble. In 1997 he received the Career Development Grant from the Philadelphia Musical Fund Society, and in 2003 received the Creative Achievement Award from Temple University. Abramovic is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, the Peabody Conservatory, and received his DMA from Temple University. His teachers have included Natalie Phillips, Eleanor Sokoloff, Leon Fleisher, and Harvey Wedeen.

Eva Benett

Eva Benett

Soprano

EVA BENETT (née Eva Kolková), a Czech soprano, studied classical singing at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts under the direction of Marta Beňačková. In this study she completed a residency at the Salzburg Mozarteum with Prof. Marta Sharp.

She also studied at the Conservatorio di Verona in Italy with Cristina Miatello where she studied interpretation of Italian and French baroque music. Most recently she has been working with Markéta Cukrová and Kateřina Kněžíková.

In 2017 she made her debut in the main role of Dido Antonio Boroni’s opera La Didone in the baroque theatre in Český Krumlov (CZ). She provided a stunning performance and was invited to participate in the next productions. (Antonio Gianettini: L’ingresso alla gioventù di Claudio Nerone (2018); Johann Adolph Hasse: Demofoonte (2019). In 2019 she appeared in the role of Amor (Paride et Helen, G. W. Gluck at the Smetanova Litomyšl Festival), and in the role of Šárka (A. Vivaldi: Praga Nascente) with Musica Florea. In 2020 she debuted with great success in the role of Susanna in the opera Le nozze di Figaro in Slezské Divadlo Opava.

Benett focuses mainly on baroque and classical music. As a soloist she regularly collaborates with Musica Florea, Hof musici, Czech virtuosi, Košice (SK), Pardubice, and Hradec Králové Philharmonic. In 2012 she recorded for Navona Records with the Moravian Philharmonic Olomouc led by Peter Vronsky towards an album with music of the contemporary composer Sergio Cervetti: NAZCA. In 2016 she recorded Jakub Jan Ryba songs for Braunensis Art with pianist Zdeněk Klauda and in 2018 she recorded music by Jan Anselm Fridrich with Musica Florea and Marek Štryncl.

Julianne Borg

Julianne Borg

Soprano

JULIANNE BORG appeared in Carnegie Hall with Leon Botstein and The Orchestra Now (TŌN) singing the title role of Susanna in Il Segreto di Susanna by Wolf-Ferrari. As a member of the ensemble at the Salzburger Landestheater, Borg performed the roles of Donna Elvira Don Giovanni, Countess Le nozze di Figaro, Agathe Der Freischütz, Frau Luna Frau Luna, Celia The Passion of Jonathan Wade by Carlyle Floyd, Gilade Farnace by Vivaldi and Pamina in Die Kleine Zauberflöte.

She sang 5th Maid Elektra with the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Lorin Maazel and appeared previously with the New York Philharmonic as Die Magt Sancta Susanna with Riccardo Muti on the podium. She has sung with Opéra de Nice, France where she performed Flaminia in Haydn's Il Mondo della luna at Théâtre du Capitole, with Toulouse, France where she sang First Niece Peter Grimes, and with L’Opéra-Théâtre de Limoges, France performing Mimi La Bohème.

Borg appeared frequently with the New York City Opera where she performed Micaela in Carmen, Pamina in The Magic Flute, Musetta in La Bohème, Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, Beth in Little Women, Serpetta in La Finta Giardiniera, Ygraine in Ariane et Barbe-Bleue, and Cleone in Ermione. In Japan she played Mimi in La Bohéme, with the Tokyo City Opera. She performed Violetta in La Traviata with the Skylight Opera Theater in Milwaukee and sang the roles of Virtù and Valetto in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. She created the role of Lucy in the premiere of Stephen Paulus's opera The Woman at Otowi Crossing with the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. As a soloist on the concert stage she has performed works including the Mozart’s Requiem, Brahms’s Requiem, Carmina Burana, Mahler's Fourth and Second Symphonies, Bach’s Magnificat, Handel's Messiah, the Poulenc Gloria, Die Jahreszeiten (The Seasons), The Creation, The Lord Nelson Mass, Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, and Knoxville; Summer of 1915.

Borg’s education includes an Artist Diploma: Yale School of Music, Master of Music: Peabody Conservatory, Bachelor of Music: Western Michigan University, and professional studies at the Manhattan School of Music.

Alena Hellerová

Alena Hellerová

Soprano

ALENA HELLEROVÁ, a Czech soprano, received basic school vocal studies and piano lessons from 1991 to 1997. She began her formal musical studies at the Conservatory in Teplice with Professor Ludmila Abrahámová from 1997-1998, and continued at the Prague Conservatory with Professor Antonie Denygrová from 1998-2003.

The studies ended at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague in the class of Professor Magdaléna Hájossyová (2004-2009), where she obtained her Master of Art degree. She has attended several master-classes, including: master singing courses in Karlovy Vary (2000), International Summer Academy (Austria, Reichenau an der Rax) with Professor Magda Nádor (2006), International Summer Academy (Austria, Reichenau an der Rax) with Professor Sonia Ghazarian (2007), and Summer Baroque Academy in Kelč (Czech Republic) with Professor Joel Frederiksen (2010). Her awards and prizes include: 2nd Place in the Mozart Competition Duškova (2006), Honorable Mention in The International Antonín Dvořák Competition for the song category (2006), and prize for the best interpretation of song by M.Š.Trnavský in the International Vocal Competition in Trnava, Slovakia (2008).

From 2005, Hellerová became a member of vocal chamber choir Octopus pragensis (artistic leader: Dr. Petr Daněk). This choir specializes in interpreting music of the 16th-17th centuries. They have performed at a concert tour in Israel, in Prague Spring 2007, and in other festivals. In 2007 she co-operated with the conductor Tomáš Netopil on the implementation of the arias and duets from the operas by W.A. Mozart. Since 2008, she has regularly worked with Chamber Orchestra Berg (conductor: Peter Vrábel), which interprets the premieres of contemporary composers and important works of the 20th Century. She is also intensively dealing with the interpretation of the music of the Baroque with Collegium Vocale 1704 under the direction of Václav Luks. As a soloist she also works with the Prague Symphony Orchestra (conductor: Ondřej Kukal; since 2008), Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra, and The Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice. With the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra Olomouc she made recordings of contemporary composers for PARMA Recordings. She attended many of the festivals of Baroque music, not only in the Czech Republic (the Prague Spring since 2009), Concentus Moravie, but also abroad, in Belgium and France.

In 2009, Hellerová sang at the Prague Spring as soprano solo in B. Martinů cantatas with the Kühn Mixed Choir conducted by Marek Vorlíček and recorded for The Czech Radio; soprano solo in George Frideric Handel’s Messiah with the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice at the Czech Opera Festival (Smetanova Litomyšl); with Musica Florea (an ensemble specialized in Baroque music) conducted by Marek Štryncl; and as soprano solo in A. Liehmann’s Missa Pastoralis, with the Prague Chamber Symphony conducted by Jaroslav Brych. In 2010, she sang soprano solo in Gustav Mahler’s 4th Symphony with the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic orchestra conducted by Stanislav Vavřínek; soprano solo in A. Dvořák's Stabat Mater with the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic orchestra conducted by Stanislav Vavřínek; and soprano solo in G.F. Handel’s Israel in Egypt with Baroque Academy Kelč conducted by Roman Válek. In 2011, she sang soprano solo in G.F. Handel’s Messiah, with Collegium 1704 and Collegium Vocale 1704 conducted by Václav Luks in Prague and Dresden; soprano solo in Jan Dismas Zelenka’s Missa Votiva with Collegium 1704 and Collegium Vocale 1704 conducted by Václav Luks in Prague and Dresden; soprano solo in J.S. Bach's St. John's Passion (BWV 245), with Collegium 1704 and Collegium Vocale 1704 conducted by Václav Luks in Ostrava and Opava; and soprano solo in J.D. Zelenka’s Te Deum, with Collegium 1704 and Collegium Vocale 1704 conducted by Václav Luks in Prague and Dresden.

Cara Latham

Cara Latham

Soprano

CARA LATHAM, drawing from an extensive professional music theatre background, has received critical praise for her many roles in regional and state theaters including Maria in Bernstein’s West Side Story, Mabel in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance, Louisa in The Fantasticks, and Sr. Amnesia in Nunsense.

Along with Pamina in Magic Flute, and Marguerite in Faust with Berks Opera, her professional and academic opera credits include the Mother in Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, Mrs. Wordsworth in Britten’s Albert Herring, Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutti with Concert Opera Philadelphia and Lauretta in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi. She performs regularly with the Symphonic Singers, Philadelphia’s Art Song Repertory Theater Company, and as a soloist on the Lyric Fest Recital Series and Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia. Latham has taught voice and musical theater on the faculties of West Chester University, The Guthrie Theater and the Yale School of Drama. She holds a doctorate in Voice from Temple University as well as degrees in vocal performance from Oberlin Conservatory and the Yale School of Music.

Petr Vronský

Petr Vronský

Conductor

Earlier on a very successful young violinist (Beethoven's Hradec competition 1964), Petr began his conducting career in 1971 at the Plzeň Opera, from where he moved to Ústí nad Labem as head of the opera company there. His musical development was greatly influenced by his successes in conducting competitions in Olomouc (1970), Besançon in France (1971) and in the Herbert von Karajan competition in Berlin (1973).

In 1978 Petr Vronský was appointed conductor of the State Brno Philharmonic and, during the years 1983-1991, he was its Chief Conductor. He took this orchestra on tour to many countries in Europe, in the United States and Japan. While he was working in Brno he also taught at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts. In the years 2002-2005 he was Chief Conductor of the Janáček's Philharmonic Ostrava, with whom he also travelled extensively on tour (Taiwan, Japan, Spain, Austria, Germany, Poland etc.). He has been Honorary Chief Conductor of the Moravian Philharmonic Olomouc since the 2005-2006 season, and he lectures on conducting at Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.

Petr Vronský is regularly invited to conduct leading world orchestras (Royal Flemish Philharmonic in Antwerp, the Berlin Symphony, Istanbul Devlet Senfoni Orkestras, Tokyo's Metropolitan Orchestra, the Philharmonic Orchestra in Rio de Janeiro, the Munich Radio Orchestra, the St Petersburg Philharmonic). He also works with the top orchestras in this country (Czech Philharmonic, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra) and with opera theatres at home (Prague's National Theatre, the State Opera in Prague, the Janáček Opera in Brno, J. K. Tyl Theatre in Plzeň) and abroad (Viennese Chamber Opera, Netherlands Dance Theatre in the Hague).

His repertoire comprises over two hundred symphonic and operatic works. He is regarded as a versatile conductor with a broad scope, and an exceptional disposition and sensitivity for musical interpretation. Vronský's discography is also fascinating, wide-ranging and highly acclaimed by the critics.

Notes

MORTAL DREAMS presents distinct vocal settings of an inner universe belonging to four imaginations that span the unbridled to the sublime. It includes operatic-like fragments of letters written by and to the iconic dancer Isadora Duncan, a devoted mother’s aria recognizing her child’s autism, a minimalist duet on the brevity of life, and a monologue on the hypnotic prospect of wielding power that were once in the transitory realm of dreams, hopes, desires, and secret fantasies. We humans harbor personal, private thoughts. Perhaps they are mere impressions that exist in either the heights or the depths of our volatile minds. Among them is Isadora Duncan’s final line from Desire, the first fragment from the song cycle Four Fragments of Isadora: “I feel like a mortal transferred to Paradise, beyond mortal dreams.” How fortunate and captivating to find her inner world revealed by letter and then immortalized in song.

for Soprano and Piano (1979)

Dedicated to Stuart and Elizabeth Hodes

  1. Desire - Isadora to Craig, Venice, September 1907
  2. Illness - Isadora to Craig, Nice, March 1907

III. Death of the Children - Isadora to Craig, Neuilly-sur-Seine, April 1913; Corfu, July 1913

  1. Farewell - Craig to Isadora, Rome, January 1917, December 1919; Isadora to Craig, Groningen, October 1907; Mes amis, je vais à la gloire! Isadora’s final words 1927

The text of Four Fragments of Isadora is based on excerpts selected from the letters exchanged between Isadora Duncan (1877-1927) and her lover, Gordon Craig, from Isadora’s diaries, and her autobiography My Life. By so doing the song cycle became a demonstration of identity through variety in order to gain insight into the depths of Isadora’s celebrated yet tragic life: Desire, Illness, Death of the Children, Farewell.

Isadora Duncan was an American dancer and the iconic catalyst and doyenne of American modern dance. She was born in California and performed to acclaim throughout Europe and the Soviet Union from the age of 22 until her death by accidental strangulation at age 50 in Nice, France. Her scarf became entangled in the wheels of the automobile in which she was riding. Isadora’s final words before the unforeseen tragedy were “Mes amis, je vais à la gloire!” Gordon Craig, her lover, was an English director, actor, scenic designer, theorist, and son of actress Dame Ellen Terry. Isadora bore three children. The first was Deirdre Beatrice (1906–1913) by Gordon Craig, and the second, Patrick Augustus (1910-1913) by Paris Singer (1867-1932) who was a son of sewing machine magnate Isaac Singer. Both children drowned in 1913, along with their nanny, when their runaway car accelerated and sank in the Seine. Isadora was not with them.

The work was commissioned by Stuart Hodes who was a leading dancer in the Martha Graham Dance Company and, at the time in 1979, chair of New York University’s Dance Department where Cervetti taught music. Elizabeth Hodes, his wife, premiered the work at University Theatre in New York City, June 1979. In June 2019 Cara Latham and Charles Abramovic made this splendid recording, and subsequently performed the work before an audience at Temple University’s Rock Hall in Philadelphia on September 15, 2019.

These fragments are enough to paint a vigorous character, and Sergio Cervetti has served them with a melodic and declamatory line, with big dramatic gestures, profound intimacy, and exhausting concentration. The vocal writing is almost traditional but very new and risky in the piano, which paints each fragment with obsessive rhythms almost minimalist at times, and demands from the pianist a virtuoso technique. The contrast between the instrumental and the vocal writing creates a mood that at moments is hallucinating and hypnotic. It is one of the most remarkable compositions by this Uruguayan composer whose training has been totally American. — Washington Roldán, El Pais, Montevideo, Uruguay, October 19, 1986

Premiered June 2, 1979 by Elizabeth Hodes and Thomas Grubb at New York University’s University Theatre in New York NY.

Commissioned by Stuart Hodes.

Aria for Soprano and Electronic Track (2007)
Childhood is the voice of a mother who reveals how her daughter’s childhood began like any other but evolved in unexpected ways due to Asperger’s Syndrome. She is forever touched by her darling child who she knows is very different; and knowing the world, she knows there will be life-long ache and confusion. This aria is from an unfinished work-in-progress that explores autism. It is the third Cervetti-Esris collaboration. The first was Elegy For A Prince with a libretto adapted from Oscar Wilde’s fairy tale, The Happy Prince, adding influences from Wilde’s De Profundis. It was followed by an original chamber opera that plays upon motifs of wine, cooking, and friendship titled YUM!

Childhood, childhood begins, hmm, hmm, hmm . . . like childhood
with a precious little life that fills you full of wonder;
with a babbling voice and her cheek upon your breast.
With odd little quirks and funny little stories,
silly faces and unimagined places.
Then other signs emerge, that first you think are sweet
they never grow or change, they only get darker
her world is filled in ways that you never understand.
And you question
you worry
you question
and you know.
Adolescence is painful.
A life-long condition . . .
a life-long condition.

Lyrics © 2007 Elizabeth Esris

for two Sopranos and Chamber Ensemble (1975)
Solo un breve instante – Only a brief moment
Text by Nezahualcoyotl (15th century Aztec)
In Memoriam Richard Kinsey (1941-2000)

This early minimalist work uses a number of restricted pitches featuring two sopranos with interweaving lines of counterpoint, and has a text on the fleeting passage of life drawn from the poetry written by the Aztec ruler Nezahualcoyotl (1402-1472). He was a philosopher, warrior, architect, poet and ruler of the city-state of Texcoco in pre-Columbian Mexico.

Cervetti has constructed a work of singular beauty in his Madrigal III. Revolving around a very tight tonal center, the work was characterized by the vocal interplay between the two sopranos who differentiated their sound by rarely more than a semi-tone. The work, consciously or not, seemed to be a direct linear descendant of the Italian baroque school of writing perfected by Vivaldi and Corelli, wherein each of the two solo instruments tries to enmesh the other in a tight web of sound. — Robert Burmister, San Mateo Times CA, February 26, 1976

Solo un Breve Instante
¿Acaso es verdad que se vive en la tierra? ¡Ay!
¿Acaso para siempre en la tierra?
Hasta las piedras finas se resquebrajan,
Hasta el oro se destroza,
Hasta las plumas preciosas se desgarran.
¿Acaso es verdad que se vive en la tierra?
¿Acaso para siempre en la tierra?
¡Solo un breve instante aqui!

Only a Brief Moment
Is it perhaps true that one lives on earth? Aye!
Perhaps forever on earth?
Even precious stones crack,
Even gold can be destroyed,
Even costly feathers can be torn.
Is it perhaps true that one lives on earth?
Perhaps forever on earth?
Only a brief moment here!

— Nezahualcoyotl

Premiered February 24, 1976 by the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, directors Jean-Louis Le Roux and Marcella de Cray; sopranos Lorene Adams, Ana Carol Dudley. Ralston Ballroom at the College of Notre Dame in Belmont CA

for Modified Voice and Electronics (2019)

Created, engineered, and performed by Sergio Cervetti at composer’s studio Doylestown, PA.

Cervetti has continuously created electronic works since the early 1970’s beginning at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Studio in New York City. This monologue on wielding power is a socio-political commentary in response to this country’s current state of affairs due, in part, to the 1% who are shielded by wealth and who dominate, often secretly, the policies that usually ignore causes for the common good. Among his other works centered on various socio-political topics are the following.

- Dies Tenebraum for orchestra and chorus composed in 1968 is an offering to victims of the Vietnam War.
- Las Indias Olvidadas, a harpsichord concerto from1992, and Ofrenda para Guyunusa for harpsichord (2012) are on the history of the exploitation and massacre of indigenous South American populations.
- Sunset at Noon for violin and viola (1996) paints four young lives lost due to the AIDS epidemic.
- Unbridled is a string quartet (2013) composed during the economic crisis caused by financial institutions.
- I Can’t Breathe for piano and electronics (2014) is in support of Black Lives Matter.
- And the Huddled Masses for clarinet and string quartet (2015) focuses on the plight of unwelcome migrants and refugees who encounter closed borders.
- Silent Earth, String Quartet No.5 (2019) is a reminder of the continuing effects of global climate change.