Campane is a substantial eight-part work for soloists, mixed choir and orchestra, built around the imagery and sound of bells. Pradal brings together texts in German, Italian, English and French, creating a varied choral-orchestral cycle that moves between intimate, lyrical passages and powerful, celebratory moments.
The work opens with Denn mit der Freude Feierklange, followed by Dante’s Era già l’ora che volge il disio. The central movements include the atmospheric Von dem Dome and How still the Bells in Steeples stand, while Lieblich in der Bräute Locken and Holder Friede explore contrasting lyrical and dramatic colours. The cycle concludes with the Easter-inspired Cloches de Pâques! Alleluia! and the energetic Freude hat mir Gott gegeben!.
With its large-scale orchestral palette, solo writing and prominent role for the SATB choir, Campane is suited to concert programmes, choir festivals and major choral-orchestral performances. It offers conductors a distinctive contemporary work with strong contrasts in character, language and instrumentation.
