Yet Once More, O Ye Laurels ... Absalon Fili Mi

"This memorial disc of solos and duos by Andrew Welsh Imbrie (1921-2007) and one of his most distinguished pupils, Hi Kyung Kim (b.1954), boasts performances largely by the musicians who commissioned and premiered them. Two of Imbrie's last pieces, To My Son and Melody for Gayageum, written while he was fighting with his illness are included on this disc."

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Absalon fili mi,
quis det ut moriar pro te, Absalon?
Non vivam ultra,
sed descendam in infernum plorans.

Absalon my son,
if only I had died instead of you, Absalon!
I shall live no more,
but go down to hell, weeping.
(trans. Mick Swithinbank)

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John Milton Lycidas
A Lament for a friend drowned in his passage from
Chester on the Irish Seas, 1637

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Image credit: (c) Albany Records. [September 1,] 2008.