Two Psalms Op.74 (Organ)

Schlee Two Psalms Op.74 (Organ)

The first piece “Sicut ros Hermon” (Psalm 133) meditates on the path God’s mercy takes, whereby the initial slow descending harmonic sequences develop into an emphatic song followed by a tender chorale-like coda. 

“Si sumpsero pennas aurorae” (Psalm 139) relates to a highly poetic, consolatory but also admonishing image of the psalm: As far as our wings may carry us, God’s hand will take hold of us.  We cannot escape his mercy or his judgement.  At the end of this striking movement the music conveys almost haptic moments; one can sense the mighty ‘hand’ by means of the tutti sound.  Finally the music becomes as calm as at the start of this piece, though dialogue-like figurations convey repercussions of what was experienced and acknowledged.

Thomas Daniel Schlee was born in Vienna in 1957. He studied organ, composition and musicology in Vienna and Paris with Michael Radulescu, Jean Langlais, Olivier Messiaen and Francis Burt. As an organist he has performed throughout Europe; he has also made radio programmes and CD recordings, and worked as a juror in international competitions and as an editor. From 1990-98 he was music director of the Brucknerhaus, Linz and artistic director of the International Bruckner Festival, and from 1999-2003 deputy director of the International Beethoven Festival, Bonn. He has been director of the Carinthian Summer Festival since 2004. As a composer, Schlee has written many works for orchestra, vocal and chamber forces, as well as works for and with organ. In 2005 he was elected Officier des Arts et Lettres, in 2010 he has been awarded the Austrian cultural prize of music, and in 2012 the Austrian “Ehrenkreuz" for Arts and Science.