Pastorale sopra 'Das alte Jahr vergangen ist'

This time of year most organists play Bach's beautiful chorale prelude on the hymn 'Das alte Jahr vergangen ist' BWV 614. Time for something else, an interesting contemporary setting with roots in early music.

“Pastorale sopra Das alte Jahr vergangen ist” (2016) celebrates the start of a new year by evoking the “zampognari,” street musicians of central Italy. Appearing as a pair, one has a bagpipe (the traditional zampogna) and the other has a loud “reed cornet” to perform the melody. The cornet player needs frequent breaths, hence the short melodies.

Carlotta Ferrari (b. 1975) is an Italian composer. Educated at the Conservatory in Milan, she has composed in many genres, developing a personal language that is concerned with the blend of past and present. Her compositions have been performed frequently around the world. Ferrari’s music appears on several CD recordings, including four all-Ferrari organ CDs: three recorded by Carson Cooman (2014/16) and another by Peter Clark (2015). She served as chair of music composition at Hebei Normal University in Shijiazhuang, China and is currently professor of music composition at the European School of Economics in Florence, Italy.