'woman.life.song' composed by Judith Weir. Extract from score.

'woman.life.song' composed by Judith Weir with texts by writers, Maya Angelou, and Toni Morrison, and the Jungian psychoanalyst Clarissa Pinkola Estés. Commissioned by Carnegie Hall in 2000 and premiered in the UK at The Proms in 2000, it is a remarkable, collaborative project suggested by the soprano and sung by Jesse Norman. It is a testament to women's stories and lives. I chose this piece for the evocative lyricism in the song cycles, and the physical score itself that is worthy of further contemplation. This grand and extraordinary composition has been compared as a feminist antidote to Schumann's 'Frauenliebe und -leben' (A Woman's Love and Life) a cycle of poems by Adelbert von Chamisso.

BBC Radio Interview with Jesse Norman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI1KD5o2MHk

Full score and texts here: http://issuu.com/scoresondemand/docs/womanlifesong_2764/33?e=8906278/5231464