Wenn es das Licht ist

Andreas Pieper's secular cycle Wenn es das Licht ist for four-part mixed a-cappella choir (SATB) consists of seven choral settings based on poems by Sigrid Nordmar-Bellebaum. Apart from the eponymous last choral piece, the organist and choirmaster of the parish of Our Lady in Duisburg set to music the following poems by the anthroposophist born in Gdansk in 1941: Weiße Brombeerblüten, Birkenstille, Ruhelos, Farnblätter, Wenn der Regen die Rosen schlägt, and Sonne. In reply to the question what, to him, makes up the charm of these poetic gems, the award-winning (choral) composer said: 'The poems which were set to music in the 1980s fascinated me with their mysterious look at a "world behind things". This is the space in which I have always wanted to move musically. The music is mainly atmospheric, linear and freely tonal.'