Mother Earth Program Notes

Seule dans la forêt by Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983)

Vöglein by Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)

Forest Bird by Katherine Hoover (1937-2018)

A Hermit Thrush at Morn by Amy Beach (1867-1944)

Visions of Dunbar by Robert Schultz (b. 1948)
 
Children of Light, No. 5 by Karen Tanaka (b. 1961)
   Northern Lights
   Galapagos Land Iguana
   Marsupial Mole
   Florida Panther
   Polar Bear
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Tides of Manaunaun by Henry Cowell (1897-1965)

Water Dance III by Karen Tanaka (b. 1961)
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Meditation Prelude No. 4: Cumulus Humilus by Patrick Burke (b. 1974)

Sounds of a Fjord for piano and electronics by Kaja Bjørntvedt (b. 1981)
 
Pole Mountain Suite by Bonnie McLarty (b. 1983)
   I. First Light
   II. Old Happy Jack Trail
   III. Mountain Stream
   IV. Autumn Sky: Fog, Sunbreak, Last Light
 
Mirage by Elisenda Fábregas (b. 1955)

Rhythms of the North Country by Gwyneth Walker (b. 1947)

Children of Light, No. 5
​by Karen Tanaka
(b. 1961)
The 20th century gave birth to a remarkable revolution in science and technology.  But it was also a period of environmental destruction.  The beauty of nature and its resources, that took millions of years to develop, have been damaged and depleted in just a few decades.  Many wild animals have become extinct because their living environment has been destroyed, or because they have been hunted.  The theme of Children of Light is wild animals in danger, and environmental problems, such as deforestation, sea pollution, ozone depletion, global warming and so on. 

Children of Light is comprised of five sections as follows:
  1. Blue Planet—Animals living in the sea
  2. Green Paradise—Animals living in the African jungle and savannah
  3. Prisms in the Forest—Animals living in Asian forests and swamps
  4. Air—Birds.
  5. Northern Lights—Animals living in the Arctic, the Galapagos Islands, Australia, and the USA.  (The fifth and final section, Northern Lights, is the one featured here in the Mother Earth program.) 

The twenty animals named in the full collection were selected from the 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals.   It is deeply painful for me to look at this enormous list of threatened animals.  Children of Light was composed in 1998-99 as a homage to endangered animals and to the planet Earth, and also as a message to children of the future, entrusting them with the protection of the natural environment.

Notes by Karen Tanaka.  Karen Tanaka is an exceptionally versatile composer and pianist. Her works have been performed by distinguished orchestras and ensembles worldwide.  Karen Tanaka lives in Los Angeles and teaches composition at California Institute of the Arts.