Fred Momotenko is a fabulous French composer who makes music seemingly for the church and in the track featured here on Kurrent Music, there is a beautiful, angelic ode to persons once lost or to come in his life later. The piece is a whimsical, colorful piece for soprano voice and piano. It is full of chromatic scales that give it a Disney-like flair. There are several beautiful climaxes from the soprano along with the scale wise motion that goes up and back down. It is a fabulous cycle and an ode to the spirits. It starts in D-flat and then goes to a major key upward. The whole piece is a mini-opera of sorts going up and down scales in two or three different chords and keys before the first soprano climax. The short snippet on Kurrent Music really isn’t enough to write on at first. Upon hearing a full video on Youtube, the piano part is great with intervals swinging back from forth to third, seventh to sixth. The intervals grow farther apart and experimental. The harmony is more than nebulous enough to not be predictable. The piano part continues for quite a long time before the soprano comes in, but not before a big crash on the piano. I hear strains of a twelve-tone row or other atonal harmony mixing with seemingly consonant elements of harmony. It also has quartal harmony in chromatic steps at various points in the piece which makes for a very interesting sequence of music.
The whole nine minutes and fifty one seconds is a breathtaking display that the composer makes no mistake about giving the listener. The soprano is a particularly brilliant soprano who has great pitch and great bravado. The song with its many climaxes ends in a kind of fading chord sequence. Take some time to listen to this. You will like it.
