Title: Bangladesh
Composer: Lewis Spratlan Year Composed: 2015
Instrumentation: For Piano Duration: 14′ Format: Full Score
Catalogue Number: OM0427
Printed Edition Price: $35.00 USD PDF Edition Price: $25.00 USD
Bangladesh was written in response to the building of Louis Kahn’s Government Center in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The piece was commissioned by and dedicated to Nadia Shpachenko, who premiered it at Walt Disney Concert Hall as part of the Piano Spheres series in October 2015.
There are five sections to Bangladesh:
The people of Bangladesh. The energetic local music is evoked.
The buildings. They are two main types, concrete and brick.
Water. The government center seems to be floating on a lagoon, a projection of the country’s inseparability from water.
The people build the buildings. Swarms of laborers create visionary structures using the most primitive materials- bamboo scaffolding, concrete buckets made of straw.
The buildings in the nation. A contemplation of the buildings’ looming presence in the life of Bangladesh.
