Reza Vali

Love Drunk

Love Drunk (Folk Songs, Set No. 16B) was commissioned by Thomas Jones and completed in July 2014. This is the sixteenth set of an ongoing cycle of Persian folk songs that Reza Vali has been composing since 1978. The work's four songs (songs without words) reflect upon different aspects of love. In song No. 1, Longing, the lover is longing for a reunion with the beloved. Song No. 2, In Memory of a Lost Beloved, is a dialogue, across the dimensions, between the deceased beloved and the grieving lover. The song reflects upon the grief of separation--in this case, separation by death. The sensual and the spiritual aspects of love intersect in song No. 3, The Girl from Shiraz. The melodies of the third song are accompanied by quotes from the Christmas carol Silent Night, Wagner's Tristan and Isolde, and Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time. The final song No. 4, Love Drunk, describes the intoxicating joy when the lovers meet.