XOLISA

For Recorder Orchestra
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In November 2023, my old friend Yung-Tai Liu, conductor and founder of the Taipei Recorder Orchestra, asked me to write a piece for the TRO's 20th anniversary concert. He wished for a piece on the theme of "Peace & Love". I gladly accepted the commission and wrote the piece in February 2024.

The theme of peace connects people all over the world, but especially Poland, where I have been living since 2021, and Taiwan. Poland is a direct neighbor of Ukraine, which has been at war with Russia since 2022. Millions of war refugees have come to Warsaw from Ukraine, many still live here, some have become friends of mine. Taiwan, on the other hand, has been living under the threat of invasion by communist China for decades.

XOLISA is Xhosa and means "bring about peace". The suite consists of three movements: "Call for Peace", "Dream of Peace" and "Celebration of Peace".
The first movement begins gloomily. At the beginning you can hear the grief over the nightmare of war, the lives lost and the grief of loved ones. Putin is waging his war without regard for human life and humanity in a merciless campaign. His army has killed thousands of innocent civilians, and he sacrifices tens of thousands of young soldiers from his own country, poorly trained and equipped, to conquer a small, destroyed city, a dot on the map, to boast afterwards that he has "liberated" the city; young men whose lives ended before they could begin, fallen for the ambitions of a vain politician.

This atmosphere of mourning then gradually turns into a call for peace, a message of hope. The motif of this call (which first appears in D) refers to the word XOLISA, it could be sung with this word - it might help the players to remember it! The solo in bar 138ff should be played freely and expressively; this also applies to the solos in "Dream of Peace" (under L). This second movement should be played vocally, like a big, long melody that expresses the deep longing for peace. The third movement, on the other hand, should be played rhythmically precise, lively and full of unleashed joy. What better reason to celebrate than the peace for which one has waited so long? The audience should hear this exuberant jubilation when they hear this last movement.

I thank Yung-Tai Liu for commissioning XOLISA and his TRO for the wonderful world premiere on May 18 in Taipei in a sold-out concert that also featured the works of many promising young Taiwanese composers. The impeccable quality of the concert and the many new works confirmed Taiwan's status as the current place-to-be for recorder composers!

I am always happy to receive recordings and feedback: soeren.sieg@icloud.com.

1. Call for Peace
2. Dream fo Peace
3. Celebration of Peace

Here are the Youtubelinks to the three movements
1. Call for Peace
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKA_1ULyadU

2. Dream of Peace
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmEDNrj8occ

3. Celebration of Peace
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyO3gz_sG8Y