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About the Composer

Alex Berko

The “stirring” (New York Times), “intoxicating” (Philadelphia Inquirer), and “disarmingly beautiful” (Textura) music of American composer Alex Berko (b. 1995) is characterized by a balance of intimacy and power, a keen sense of lyricism and emotional sensitivity, and a love of narrative. Berko’s music often poses questions about our personal environments and relationships to one...

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Alex Berko Music

Limits of Your Longing

Name: Limits of Your Longing
SKU: ABM-005
Availability: InStock

Alex Berko

Comforting and introspective, in honor of a dear friend who has passed.

Choral

mixed choir

1-2 instruments, piano

slow

sacred

Difficulty: 4

Duration: 5-10 min.

ABM-005

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for SATB chorus, piano, and violoncello

Composer’s Notes

In early 2024, I was approached by Stephen Kushner, music director of the Philadelphia-based choir, Coro Mundi. He asked if I would be willing to create a new work in honor of a dear friend, Thomas who had passed away the previous summer. In learning about Thomas, I came to understand that he was a deeply spiritual person who devoted his life to the well-being and healing of others.

We decided on a beautiful and meditative text by Rilke, one that reflected the spirit of Thomas and a poem that I had my eye on for some time. The poetry is comforting and introspective; each stanza acting almost like a small mantra. The work also includes piano and a cello which I imagined to be the spiritual force that lives within the seams of the music.

I consider it a great responsibility to create a work that embodies the spirit of an individual and would like to thank Stephen for trusting me to do so. We each have loved ones who used to be in our lives, now living in our memory and through what they’ve left behind. It’s in the revisitation of their memory that we get to be with them again, if only for a moment.

-Alex Berko