The mystic rose

The mystic rose was commissioned by the Union of Romanian Composers and Musicologists. It is based on texts written by important poets from different traditions: a haiku by Matsuo Basho, a text by the Sufi mystic Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, a poem by Walt Whitman, a text belonging to the Benedictine abbess Hildegard von Bingen, a text belonging to Heraclitus of Ephesus, a poem belonging to the Indian mystic Kabir. The choice of the soloist for each piece of the cycle and the structure of the instrumental ensemble was made in such a way as to ensure a significant contrast between the successive parts. All poems were used in the original language, in the hope of capturing the ethos specific to each language.