'Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening' (2021) for Tenor and Piano by Parsa Noroozian (*1996).

Recorded in Utrecht in June 2022 by Harold Bergsma.
www.haroldbergsma.nl/
Performed by Tenor Tjerk Bakker and Pianist and Composer Xander Benham.
www.xanderbenham.com/
A Bit About the Work (from the composer):
Creative processes are always full of surprises. Sometimes they can unfold even after a piece of art is finished, which is what happened in the context of this piece. My friend Xander’s interpretation of the text changed my perception of both the text and the piece that I wrote, as if it suddenly became an entirely new piece with more power to it (at least in my subjective view). And this is the beauty of arts: we experience it based on how our thoughts and feelings filter things out.
“... the woods are lovely, dark, and deep
but I have promises to keep
And miles to go before I sleep…”
Xander, who also wonderfully played the piano part of this piece, came up with this wonderful interpretation of the text: the narrator guy knows that he is going to die in the forest due to hypothermia. Once I read this interpretation, the poem spoke differently to me; the narrator appreciates the beauty of the snowy woods, even though he knows that he is going to die in it eventually.
Composer Biography:
Parsa Noroozian is a young Iranian-Canadian composer who writes music in a variety of styles and takes influences from a variety of artistic resources including poetry, visual arts, and music of different cultures across the world. Parsa has Immense curiosity and passion towards composing, analysis of, and listening to music, with inclination towards experimenting with new forms, idioms, processes, and media of creating music. One of Parsa’s distinctive attributes as a composer is that he works as a professional psychotherapist, and extensive experience with humans, their struggles, emotions, and peculiarities, has influenced and shaped his composition style in reflecting on the emotional experiences of humans.
Your Pianist,
Xander Benham.

[@riaprakash9155]

Beautiful!